Wrath and Wisdom of the Exiled King
by Thetrollingbrother
Summary: Lying dormant in space are ancient beings older than the races of the Citadel. The Shanxi system will be the stage for First Contact between 3 races. (Cover image will be taken down if there are problems. Its not mine)
1. The Silent King Stirs

Chapter 1: The Silent King Stirs

Drifting for eons in deep space where even the light of surrounding galaxies prove futile in providing their comforting light. The ship was host to a whole spectrum of negative emotions that have permeated the hull. Anger against the gods for their lies and deceit. Anger for his own foolishness. But most of all the regret for dooming his entire race. But both the ship and it's occupants have come to live with the consequences as time is a currency they can freely spare. The Imperishable was large even when compared to the flagships of his Phaerons. Stretching many kilometres long and many more kilometres wide. The ship's prodigious size is not its only feature. Especially since the ship belongs to no other than the Last Silent King of the necrons.

Atop his throne which serves as both as the ship's control interface and as a seat of power is Szarekh the Last Silent King. Resplendent in his skeletal necrodermis, fashioned with rare metals and jewels that glow with power, his mind wanders to actions of eons past. Deep in thought, Szarekh gives his last order to his people to sleep away the eons while he searches for a way to undo his mistake. Eons wandering the stars and eons more in other galaxies. Time has no more meaning to him and his people. Cursed and blessed with immortality wrought upon by his decision against the advice of Orikan. Now the king sits in contemplation upon his throne when he is suddenly distracted by his loyal Judicator Prime.

"Your majesty, there is a construct that may interest you. It shows promise that this galaxy houses a race who are more enlightened than the foolish Eldar. Although not as advanced as our technology they seem to use a similar method of mass altering technology and fuel."

Here was a treat for the Silent King, primitives that did not show any signs on reliance of the immaterium. The arrogant Eldar were too eager to follow in the footsteps of their masters. Curiosity peaked and the Imperishable was responding following its master's rising mood with activity across the ship powering long dormant systems.

With a nod, he acknowledges the following actions of his most loyal attendant.

Judicator Prime taps a series of glyphs following his master's command. In a blur of motion and teleportation the crypteks are summoned before the throne room. Prostrating before the throne, the king waves away ceremonies to allow his questions to be answered.

Understanding his lord's wish to dispense ceremony. Judicator Prime addresses them on behalf of the Silent King as the orator and mouthpiece of the greatest necron lord .

"Astromancers! His majesty demands to know if this galaxy has what we seek. Divine the outcomes of this venture so that we may save ourselves time if it proves fruitless." demanded the Judicator.

"Your majesty, from what little we can see from the stars and our calculations show that this construct is very old. But more data is needed. I request your permission to take my ship closer for a more physical examination which will allow us to determine the characteristics of its owners. We have not been here long enough in this galaxy to give us an accurate reading of its inhabitants." intoned the trio of crypteks.

Judicator Prime hears another nod from his monarch to proceed.

"Very well, go with the Silent King's blessing and I hope that you return with good tidings." with a tap of his warscythe he allows them leave.

Szarekh stares at the projection, a fork like object 15 kilometres in length with hope. Light years away from the construct. He commands the Imperishable toward the construct while his cryptek race forward with the modified Jackal class ship. Barely a few hundred metres in size, the ship races ahead to do his King's bidding.

"Hope is the first step to the road to disappointment." Szarekh reminds himself of a conversation he had with a winged figure back in his galaxy. Another rare moment of indulgence for the Silent King. But nevertheless, he enjoys these small moments that allow him to divert his attention.

If his face allowed it. A smirk would be there.

o0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0

General Desolas Arterius is the commander of the 43rd fleet of the Turian Hierarchy and was in the middle of his routine patrols when Relay 314 activated. His helmsman was already double checking data readouts and if there was news of the Council approving relay activation.

Receiving confirmation that the relay was activating without authorization. The General was forced to think on his next action.

Pirates was the first thought that came to mind or some ambitious fledgling race. Many possibilities were racing through his mind and all were silenced with a simple idea.

"Move the fleet through the relay, we need to know what is on the other side. If some fool is activating relays and risk starting another Rachni War I want them captured.", ordered the General.

The order was given and Council Law will be enforced.

Moving full ahead towards the relay with all speed the General was not in a forgiving mood especially since he was bored of smugglers and dealing with the paperwork for his fleet. Almost a hundred ships more than half of the fleet is comprised of frigates and dozens of cruisers. His flagship the TSF Steadfast was a dreadnought over a kilometer in length. Thousands of individuals kept his fleet running and His men were in need of stimulus and it's been some time since the fleet had any action. He hoped for Pirates. He desperately hoped for a fool to vent his frustrations on.

But he was a General and Turian discipline was demanded and he will see his duty through.

0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0

The Jackal was making all haste to the object with short inertialess jumps, Astromancer Annu was close to the large construct. Primitive upon closer examination but much more advance than most technological findings in the past few millennia . But what puzzled him most was the vessel on the other side of the construct. No not the vessel but its occupants, humans in this galaxy? He had to recheck his memory banks to double confirm if they were in a foreign galaxy. Confirming the radio chatter and the scans. Annu theorize they must be stragglers or outcast from what the humans call the Dark Age of Technology or further back as the trip would taken very long. A pity they regressed so much when His Lord met them a few thousand years ago. A cursory glance on the data shows that these humans have regressed even further technologically.

His efforts were rewarded as while he was intercepting human communications, they provided a name for the construct. Mass Relay they called it. But further spying on more of their conversation was nothing but a further waste of time. Pointless chatter between them that did nothing more than irritate the Astromancer. Especially with explicit mentioning of their past times, detailing unsavory actions. Disgusting primitives.

But no matter, they were not the subject of study for this trip. His majesty will be expecting a more detailed analysis when he arrives and Annu is behind schedule for eavesdropping on the humans. The humans have not even realized his ship was on the opposite side of the construct. Annu commanded the scarabs to latch onto the object for a more physical study. His colleagues always chided him for his physical approach. But now it was necessary as he did not wish to waste precious time by being detected by the humans.

Millions of tiny scarabs flew from the Jackal towards the relay. Tasked with determining its materials, powersource and more. These findings will lead to a more detailed report for his liege but one thing he was certain. These were not human creations. Which was a good sign, there are other races here that may aid in the Silent King's quest.

Breathing in deep on the data streaming in from the scarab swarm. Astromancer Annu was interrupted by the sudden arrival of more unwanted guest. Perfect he thought, more distractions. But nothing will stop Annu from completing his task.

For his majesty, His will be done.

0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o

Upon entering the system, the 43rd moved with all practised precision. Frigates maneuvered to spread out to scan for potential enemies. While the cruisers maintained formation with the dreadnought.

"What am I looking at?", questioned the General.

The general stares at the uploaded foreign ship on screen. A small vessel and definitely not a design he's familiar with, which most likely points to a new primitive race. Both the fleet and the small vessel were staring at each other in muted silence.

The helmsman confirmed his suspicions a second later. A lesson was to be taught here. Like a child in need of discipline after making wrong decisions. Especially since this race had no clue on the repercussions of wantonly activating relays. Citadel law was to be upheld here and Desolas was a fuming and willing parent.

However, before the order to fire was given. The captain from the frigate TSF Courageous was hailing Desolas on a priority channel.

"General, you have to see this." bringing up a separate view screen to present an anomaly next to the relay.

"What is that?", questioned the General again and looking at his sensors revealed nothing there. In what could be described as a tumor was latched onto the relay and it was clearly a foreign object as it was obsidian green compared to the relay.

Did that new vessel leave it there? So many questions and his crew presents further findings that somehow the tumor was corroding the relay. Little insects were present when the frigate moved closer for inspection. The planet nearby was also inhabited and Desolas was no longer in the mood for questions and he decided he will handle each of them in short order. He will get his answers after solving the problems the two foreign objects presented in front of him first.

Weapons primed and charged. The crew have firing solutions on both "problems" as is written in the report. The general would go down in history as a fool. But that is another story for the future.

The order was given. "FIRE!"

* * *

RANT*

OK if anyone bothers to read this. Just gonna say this is my first story and English is not my native language. I appreciate CONSTRUCTIVE Criticism. So I can improve further as I go along with this fiction. I also would like to point out that I was heavily inspired/influenced by some of the other great fanfictions here and warhammer. Many thanks for those of you who read my newbie story and managed to stomach it.

Lastly, the mandatory stuff.

I do not own warhammer or mass effect.


	2. Patience & Expectations

Chapter 2: Patience & Expectations

A single shot and debris was all that was left of the human vessel. Gutted with the first shot Annu remarked to himself of the fragility of their ship. The humans were dead, vented into space and he was certain that there was a survivor or two drifting and venting atmosphere with damaged suits. But it was not his concern to attempt any rescue. He was content to leave things be and it did not take a Chronomancer to know that the humans were doomed. However, while these aggressors were busy moving their ships onto his side of the relay surrounding him, they were not responding to the other human ship making an escape. Having experienced human nature all those millennia ago has taught the cryptek one thing. They were going to come back with their pack of monkeys to retaliate against these natives. War was about to begin and the cryptek was a witness of the first shots fired in this conflict.

His prized Jackal was also a victim of a hypervelocity projectile. These upstarts have fired upon a servant of the Silent King. Transmitting all the data back to The Imperishable, Annu was providing his fellow crypteks raw data to be analysed and presented to his majesty. His fellow crypteks sent back a single line following the transmission of data.

"Possible risk of destruction?" asked his caring colleagues. Although, Annu knew better that they were only determining any potential risk to his majesty. Further uploads of data soothe their worries. Showcasing the extent of the damage to the Jackal and a quick scan of these new vessels did not indicate any weapon capable of damaging the Imperishable.

A request was put out to allow retaliation against these disrespectful vessels. Annu was willing to further test their capabilities was his reasoning. However, Judicator Prime's response was not what he expected. "Do not retaliate and report" was the order, and the Astromancer will obey.

The Jackal was already initiating repair protocols. Living metal fusing and knitting, undoing the damage caused. A simple observation of the data confirmed his suspicions that the shot did not fully penetrate the armored layer. Emotion dictated that he should retaliate with a burst of his lightning arc arrays. Even dispersed the lightning arc arrays would obliterate the smaller vessels. Even though he was outnumbered, by his calculations he could teach these natives a lesson in firepower. But cold logic and obedience stayed his hand.

Annu knows better than to to disobey his master and to act against these newcomers. His Lord may wish to converse with them or better yet subjugate these vermin. His compilation of data on the relay was also almost complete. Detaching the scarab swarm from the relay. Annu was lost in his own mind on what to do next. His King demanded that he stay his hand and report. Open to interpretation and being a loyal devout subject. The Astromancer decided to gather more data on these new species for his report.

Seeing the newcomers arrive with similar energy signatures to the relay answered many of Annu's questions. For one, He understands the method of travel for the natives of this galaxy. But it also added many more questions. Deciding to intercept bits of data between the vessels. Annu was able to determine the name of these upstarts. Turians they called themselves. However, these Turians were clearly were not the owners of the relay. Have they regressed as well? Client state? Too many unknowns that it was becoming uncomfortable for the Astromancer. A small relief was that scans show no evidence of warp taint or technology. The intercepted transmissions also tell nothing of their history, culture, or status. He needed more information and their pitiful electrical counter measure systems will prove futile in denying a cryptek.

"Knowledge is power, guard it well." remarked the cryptek as he cheerfully invaded their systems.

o0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0

A job well done was what he expected. Blowing the two unknowns into space dust was what he expected. More information on the subject before him was what he expected. Desolas had many expectations when the order was given. One of them was to move onto the planet and begin a proper interrogation of the species and maybe subjugation. A client race for the Turian Hierarchy would do well on his list of achievements. Instead of blowing both items into oblivion, the tumor proved itself to not be a tumor but a cruiser sized ship that was fully capable of moving as it detached itself from the relay.

"What is that thing? Why are our scans not showing anything?!" questioned the General. He felt like a broken recorder at this point as he was throwing questions again and again. He was replaying the video feed of the show smashing it fully on the side. Despite the lack of kinetic barriers, the ship was seen repairing itself at a rate visible to the naked eye. Fear was beginning to seep into the General.

As no scans were affecting the ship, it was impossible to determine if the ship was utilizing Element Zero (Ezo). The crew were trying their best to provide any answers for the General. A quick assumption was that the ship was a prototype stealth ship for the natives of the nearby planet. Chatter between the ship intensifies as they begin to exchange ideas and theories on what the vessel is. From stupid ideas such as the manifestation of the Spirits to an actual ship of the Protheans. Hearing these speculations did nothing to ease the general and the first mate who was the second in command was feeling the full brunt of the General's worsening mood as he began to bark out orders to the fleet.

The General quickly ordered the fleet to surround the object and it became clear that the object was shifting direction to face his ship the TSF Steadfast. An odd ship with no visible system of propulsion and shaped like a crescent moon. The General ordered the entire fleet to ready weapons as a precaution. A report came that a vessel escaped while the fleet was maneuvering on the opposite side of the relay. Brilliant, he thinks to himself as while the fleet was responding to this possible threat, there was a hole in his blockade. As he knew nothing of the vessel before him, he would leave nothing to chance. Besides a few glowing crystals aboard the ship. There were no visible weapon systems resembling gun barrels or missile systems, which served to alleviate the General's worries.

To look on the brighter side of things. The general began to suspect that the vessel was automated, as it did not retreat or retaliate in any way ever since it was hit. Perhaps the ship was a treasure trove of technology that can elevate the Turian Hierarchy to better compete with the other two Council races. He was beginning to feel ecstatic about the situation and order a boarding team when he heard a shout from his helmsman.

"Sir! We're being hacked!" an instant later the command bridge lights turned off and they were left with dim red lights. A cackling sound could be heard from the speakers as weapons were drawn and safeties were turned off. The engines and weapons were powering down, kinetic barriers were shutdown and all communications were blocked. Until all that was left was projection screen in the middle of the command bridge.

A ghostly figure projected itself. Some of the crew started to shake in panic as a skeletal being introduced itself.

"Greetings! on behalf of Triarch, I Annu will be borrowing your databanks. It will only take a moment as I have diverted power to transmit the data over to my ship. I have also taken the liberty in disabling your weapons and communications for your safety." remarked the robotic ghost in perfect Turian as he bowed in a ceremonious gesture.

The general was taken aback by the intrusion of his vessel, his euphoria was cut short with this Geth like creature. If the projection was an actual representation of what it was like physically, there was almost no doubt that it was cybernetic. A review of the firewalls will have to be done once this is over seeing as it only took mere seconds for this "Annu" to disable his ship entirely. Data was being stolen aboard his ship and he gave the order to his staff to attempt manual overrides which proved pointless as Annu was always one step ahead of them. Arterius then gave the order to start pulling out wires from the databanks, knowing that classified and important military documents were stored in the databanks. As he was left no choice, the general placed his bets on his last option in hopes of distracting and buying time. Conversing with the creature.

"Spirits damn you! Return my ship this instant!" demanded Desolas at the projected hologram.

"Have greetings changed? No, your data says it is still common to start conversations with a greeting. You are remarkably rude to be making demands when you hold no power." chided Annu as he turns to look at Arterius.

"No power? we will regain control sooner or later and we have you surrounded. You are from that crescent ship correct? Surrender." said Arterius with confidence and pride.

Feeling unamused Annu stooped low as to be face to face with the General. He spoke in a very condescending tone.

"I have witnessed up close, the destruction of entire civilizations and the death of stars. I brought low gods and lived through the War in Heaven. A mortal such as you demanding my surrender is as far as I am willing to endure General. Especially since i was patient enough to ignore the damage on my ship. Choose your next words wisely General or they may be your last." remarked the hologram in a bone chilling tone.

Dread was now beginning to creep in the General's soul as he may have realized that he may have bitten more than he could chew.

o0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0

The 43rd fleet was at high alert as the flagship TSF Steadfast was not responding to hails. Readings also show that the dreadnought was powering down its weapons. Something was wrong, very wrong. A few minutes in and the second in command was about to assume control, when suddenly the flagship was powering up again and communications was restored. Immediately, the order to fire was given by no other than General Desolas Arterius himself. The frigate TSF Courageous who was closest was about to open up with its mass accelerator cannon, managed to witness a change in the unknown vessel. As if cloaking or shifting away into another plane of reality resembling a blur and it was gone. A barrage of fire hit nothing but the vacuum of space with two shots impacting on the relay and doing nothing to damage it as the relay was made of the same material as the Citadel and being nearly impervious to damage. Orders were relayed to the TSF Courageous to move into its last known position and the fleet was watching their cameras and sensors in a desperate attempt to find the unknown vessel. Finding nothing, the Turians moved onto the nearby planet of Shanxi to begin the siege.

The footage would be relayed back to the Citadel and the First Contact War would begin between the Turians and the Humans.

o0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0

The Citadel, the seat of power and capital of the council. At almost 50 kilometers in length, it serves not only as a symbol for the united races and its associates. But also a reminder of the endless possibilities of space. For no other race has come even close to building a structure of this magnitude. On the arms of the Citadel are its Wards, each of them are sectors for inhabitation and commerce. Deeper in lies the Presidium with its park like complexes and offices and in the center of the Presidium is the Citadel Tower. Politics is always at the heart of any empire and the Council is no different.

Councilor Valern would be first to know of the events of Relay 314. As the Salarian Special Task Group (STG) was already intercepting information between the fleet and Councilor Sparatus. Despite being members of the same council it was always better to have an upper hand when it comes to information gathering. The Councilor being informed of the Turians police actions came as a slight surprise when it was reported that there was a new race. But what concerned him more was the unknown vessel, as he stares at the video on his Omni-tool. Such technology would be a god send to his people. The ability to hack a military vessel in seconds and to cleanly disengage after that. Not to mention the self repairing ship. The possibilities were endless if he could get his hands on the vessel. With a series of motions on his Omni-tool, Valern would divert the bulk of STG operations in finding the unknown vessel and also to research the new race.

War was sparked between what is now known as the Human race and the Turians. One side blaming the other, the Turians were adamant in defending Council law as the strong military arm of the Citadel. As the conflict raged on, the Council was about to intervene to prevent full scale war.

o0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0

Near Shanxi

Annu exited Phase Shift back into the material plane a few hundred thousand kilometers away from the fleet on his way back to the The Imperishable when an impossible event occurs. Communications was being blocked, rechecking his systems showed no issue with the ship until it was too late when a bright lance tore through his ship like butter. Annu was vaporized as his ship was drifting back to the Shanxi system.

The last transmission sent back to the Imperishable was that it was surrounded and had to cut off communications when the Jackal Phase Shifted. It would take almost a month before the derelict of the Jackal is found by the 43rd Fleet of the Turian Hierarchy laying siege on the planet. Having to rely on visual confirmation again to detect the ship. Arterius would take no chances against the unknown vessel as he ordered his fleet to unleash hell on the ship. Blowing it into pieces.

Orders were given to scoop the remains for study. The General will salvage the pieces restore his lost pride, and he was hopeful that the pieces will provide an edge to the Turian Hierarchy. The Primarchs will be pleased, he thought to himself.

o0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0

The Imperishable was still moving slowly in the Jackal's direction as Szarekh was eager to observe these younger races. The crypteks were already reporting Annu's findings when the Silent King sensed the severed connection between The Imperishable and the Jackal. An anomaly perhaps? solar storms or some other phenomena he suspected. He was expecting the connection to be reestablished soon. As Annu was always more than willing to go the extra mile in pleasing his liege, that perhaps he may have made a small stop along the way to gather more information for his lord. Nothing, there was no indication of Annu's whereabouts or his status. As a loyal subject for millions of years, the Silent King will have his answers. Powering up long dormant systems, The Imperishable initiated an inertialess jump towards the Shanxi system. Only to find a whole fleet of ships desecrating the remains of the Jackal with clear signs of damage from their weapons.

The great king stared at the scene in disbelief. It was on his order that forced Annu to not retaliate, did he doom another of his loyal subjects?

Long forgotten emotions arose within the Szarekh, emotions he thought lost eons ago. Annu left with his blessings for this mission, he expected another interesting find to alleviate his boredom or if the great king dared hope. An end to his quest.

But he has learned his lesson eons ago.

There is no peace amongst the stars, only an eternity of carnage and slaughter, and the laughter of thirsting gods.

* * *

**RANT**

Did not expect this many reviews and follows after a day. To answer some of you:

LonelySamurai i dont see a need for the Silent King to call in any reinforcements especially since he owns a modified Cairn Class Tombship. The ship alone is enough for a fleet of imperial ships and holds enough troops to conquer almost anything it faces. Although we'll see as the story progresses. i won't spoil anything here.

PrinceofPetersburg I hope this chapter answers your question as i have already made plans for the balance of power.

Thank you all for your reviews and personally i felt that i rushed the introductions for chapter 1. I will endeavor to improve further and try to make longer chapters. Also to let you guys know that i will not be updating this too regularly. So don't expect daily updates.


	3. Hidden Plans & Open Actions

Chapter 3: Hidden Plans & Open Actions

At the edge of the Shanxi system were two observers, STG operatives under the orders of Councillor Valern himself have placed a separate stealthed com buoy to monitor the progress of the war. But its main objective was to search for the unknown vessel. Capable of real time transmission of communications and data, the buoy would witness the death of the unknown vessel as it was shredded by a concentrated barrage of mass accelerator rounds. An internal scream of frustration lasting seconds was present in the mind of Councilor Valern for their stupidity, immediately regaining composure and thinking of his next course of action. He starts to formulate a plan to gain pieces of the salvage from the Turians.

_"Have STG intercept the package? No, too much risk to the Union. Hire a third party to hijack and steal? Money trail would still be detectable." _as thoughts were racing through Valern's mind. Too little time for other options, the Turians have already begun salvage operations forcing Valern to opt for a regrettable compromise.

"Schedule a meeting with the Council, he informed his secretary. Label it as "Urgent"." ordered the Councillor as he makes his way to the Council Chambers conference rooms to await his colleagues.

Close to an hour later in the conference room, Councilor Valern was already in his seat when Councilor Sparatus was the first to arrive, greetings were exchanged and Sparatus was quick to start a conversation.

"You said it was urgent. What is this meeting about?" asked the impatient Turian Councilor.

"The subject we'll discuss will be revealed once Tevos has joined us." replied the Salarian Councilor to his impatient colleague.

Councilor Tevos walked in barely a minute later only to realize she was last to arrive to the meeting. A small apology was given to her fellow Councilors for being last to arrive. Valern began the meeting by cutting the meat of the matter before small talk would begin to waste anymore of his time.

"Fellow Councilors, I called upon this meeting to discuss the incident of Relay 314. It has come to my attention that the 43rd Fleet not only fired on the Humans but a separate unknown vessel as well." remarked Valern as he presented a visual display specifically for Councilor Tevos as he already knew that Sparatus was aware of the incident. The video presented the obsidian green vessel and Valern designated it as undentified vessel 1 "UV1" during his presentation when it was shot and detached itself from the relay to stare directly at the Turian dreadnought.

Valern was eager to point out the remarkable visible repairs of the ship and how it later vanished without retaliating. Like a young Salarian scholar presenting his thesis, Valern was visibly excited to mention the capabilities and possibilities of UV1. From the cloaking, materials and the inability to scan it. Valern was about to continue with his request to study the salvage. When he could see the gears turning in Tevos' head while Sparatus was ready with a quick accusation of information theft.

"What is the meaning of this?", questioned Sparatus. Valern understands that Sparatus was trying to divert the topic and shift the discussion, but he has already prepared a response.

"Just like how your people safeguard the Council with its military, my intention here is to safeguard the Council with information. Your people have potentially declared war on two new races." rebuked Valern as he shifts the topic back on track.

Tevos joined the conversation immediately.

"Sparatus, this does not set proper precedent for future first contacts. We can't start shooting every new race we find. The media will have our throats and the associate races will be sure to take advantage of this situation." in a tone resembling a lecturing Asari Matriach.

Valern was quick to follow up with the finishing blow by showcasing the UV1 flying back into the system. Only to see the fleet open up with enough firepower to shatter a small country. Blowing it to pieces as it buckled under concentrated mass accelerator fire. Sparatus noticing the distraught face of Tevos quickly mentioned that the 43rd fleet was justified by explaining the incident aboard the TSF Steadfast. Valern capitalizing on Sparatus's moment of weakness demanded proof of the incident. Which he reluctantly played the classified video.

The video painted a worrying picture as the ship was disabled in seconds, the crew can be seen scrambling desperately to remove data storage units and some even resorted to firing on the consoles to deny the invader further attempts at information gathering. But the conversation between General Desolas Arterius and the being known as Annu was the highlight of the video. Especially when the General threatened the creature, only to receive a bone chilling response.

The councilors came to the easy conclusion that it must be an error in translation, mentioning Gods and the War in Heaven can be dismissed as those terms can be broadly interpreted and that everyone usually exaggerates. However, being a witness to the death of stars and destruction of civilizations tells them that they were dealing with a very old civilization, perhaps as old as the Protheans themselves. With any luck, they may finally have the answers to the disappearance of the Prothean civilization. Tevos was already open to pursuing peace talks between the Humans and the Turians. She also brought up the idea of reparations for both the Humans and the newly uncovered Triarch, with Sparatus vehemently disagreeing with the idea. Valern was quick to change tactics and was about to propose a joint reparation scheme in return for the salvage before Sparatus cuts him off again.

"Reparations?! My people would rather go for an all out war than pay reparations for upholding council law. The Primarchs will never agree to this." disapproved the Turian councilor.

Just as he finished his sentence, both Valern and Sparatus would have their omni-tools light up of an upcoming situation in the Shanxi system. With Valern agreeing to share the information with Tevos.

o0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0

A moment of silence was present on all forces stationed outside Shanxi. All eyes glued to the view presented before them, a humongous object appeared out of thin air as if it was an apparition. A pin drop could be heard for those few seconds in the bridge of the TSF Steadfast. No camera magnification was necessary as it was barely a few hundred kilometers away. Casting its shadow on the fleet was a ship similar in shape to the unknown vessel many days before. One would think the mother has come for its child and they were not wrong to assume that the mother was angry. Especially since the salvage crew were still pulling apart the carcass of the small vessel. Immediately, the salvage crew noticed that the green crystals were lighting up and glowing with unnatural power. It was beautiful in its own eerie way thought the crew, as it was the last image in their eyes before they were atomized by green lightning discharged from the massive ship in an unbelievable display of power. It was akin to the old tales of Titans that ruled their homeworld of Palaven in ages past.

The Turians were never truly believers of monsters and apparitions. The Spirits were just an embodiment of an aspect that they hope to connect with, not true Gods in a sense. But at this moment, a God was truly what they needed for they have angered a being older and more powerful than most deities. For the "Titan" as it would be called in the days to come was easily half the size of the Citadel. Measuring 20 kilometers in both length and width, it cast an imposing sight that somehow shook the crew of the 43rd to at their core.

The crew stood in mute horror, frozen with terror gripping their hearts. Their every cell screaming in protest as they try to ignore their base instincts to run away in fear. Some of the crew were experiencing nightmarish visions. The senior staff were the first to break the spell, their military discipline suppressing fear to allow them to perform their duties.

General Desolas was among the first few to regain control of his faculties. Turning to look around was his crew still locked in place with fear. Quick to action, he turned on the broadcast for the fleet to respond to enemy in the middle of their fleet.

"Blessed Spirits! Shift positions and fire at will!" snapped the General at his stunned fleet. Disappointment and anger was visible on his face as he had to give such a simple command to his fleet. Remembering a crucial detail about the incident near the relay, he informs the crew to be ready to assume manual control of the ship in case the newly installed electric countermeasures fail.

"Remind the fleet as well.", Desolas pointed out. While his communications officer diligently did his duty, Desolas wondered how long it would take to take down a ship of that size.

The 43rd fleet maneuvered following standard Turian protocol to break formation following a planetary siege, moving with textbook precision to their designated positions, the fleet arrayed itself against the leviathan sized ship. No return fire was coming from the titan, calmly taking in everything like a loving parent with its arms open. The titan mocked the fleet's firepower by simply staying in place. It was a relief to the fleet that perhaps the weapons were recharging or were taken out by the spinal mass accelerators, the lack of kinetic barriers allowed the shots to connect beautifully in a show of explosions. Like fireworks they continued their onslaught, despite the slow progress in damaging the titanic vessel. They were hopeful that just like kinetic barriers, the regeneration properties of the Titan would stop soon.

o0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0

Having the Imperishable make a jump this close to a celestial body was proof that Szarekh was still a master with his calculations. Having zeroed in on the Jackal's position only to see a fleet pulling it apart was definitely not what Szarekh expected to see. In an act of mercy, Szarekh set the Sepulchre on its lowest setting to gather his thoughts for his next action. The Sepulchre was a weapon used to emit a wave of psychic force that will induce nightmarish visions that can drive the crew of nearby vessels mad. In hindsight of underestimating Turian military discipline, Szarekh should have increased the power to properly incapacitate the crew. But it still didn't matter as the enemy ships were incapable of doing any lasting damage to the Imperishable.

Judicator Prime stared at the ships arrayed before his majesty. Already some of the insects were firing on the Imperishable and if he was in charge of the ship. Their disrespect would be punished with death. With his lord sitting on his throne behind him, Judicator Prime would not assume what Szarekh would do next. These moments were very rare as no primitive race has ever been able to reliably damage a Necron vessel much less bring one down. At least these Turians would now be privileged enough to witness the actions of the Silent King. Be it death or life, Szarekh would decide their fate.

Standing impassively and awaiting his lord's decision. A voice was heard, and the Judicator would mirror the Turian's shock as he heard the voice of his King. Scanning the room for any eavesdroppers the Judicator was glad to note that they were alone. Immediately standing to attention to hear his King's command.

"What is the law for killing my subject Judicator? What would the ancient code demand here?" in a shaking tone as if the Silent King was no longer used to conversing. However, the loyal Judicator knew better that his King was trying to suppress his emotions.

Knowing better than to point out his King's manner of speech, the Judicator also knows that his King remembers the laws and traditions. Especially since his lord was the ruler of the Triarch, his subordinate Praetorians are the judges and enforcers of Necrontyr law. But it was not his place to question his liege. The Judicator is familiar with them as well as he too served to enforce the same laws and was usually there to uphold the traditions of the ancient Necrontyr code. Not since the War in Heaven when the Gods fought and the galaxy burned has Necron law or tradition been brought up. In an instant he answered his Lord.

"For the murder of Annu of the cryptek caste who did not retaliate. The life of the Lord of this fleet is demanded to soothe his soul and a thousand followers to guide and accompany him in the afterlife." stated the Judicator with certainty.

Szarekh nodded, having decided his next action. He performed a quick scan to calculate the amount of souls on each vessel. Totaling slightly above a thousand souls at a point in the center, the Imperishable let loose a single charged Particle Whip on the Turian Fleet.

It was ironic that among the 5 frigates that were vaporized. One of them was the TSF Courageous who landed the first shot on the Jackal, the stream of anti matter particles made contact directly on the frigate detonated with enough power to outright destroy 4 more of its sister ships and crippling the 2 cruisers they were escorting. The explosive force also slightly damaged a bunch more ships and disabling some, the dreadnought was paralyzed as the kinetic barriers could not withstand the explosive force. The rest of the fleet was forced to stop firing for a moment as they had to readjust their aim due to them being slightly knocked out of position.

Szarekh's calculations on the effect of the explosion was perfect, killing not too much more than neccessary the Silent King did not enjoy this moment. Similar to stepping on insects, there was no glory or honor here. But he was the lord of the Triarch, head enforcer of the laws of the Necron Empire and Annu will have vengeance. The Judicator was already making efforts to secure the Lord of the fleet by hacking all the vessels simultaneously as he broadcasted his voice in a commanding tone. The name of the Lord of the fleet was mentioned in Annu's last transmission, it was almost removed from memory if this situation did not force them to act on it.

"TURIANS, PROSTRATE YOURSELVES BEFORE HIS MAJESTY! SURRENDER THE ONE NAMED DESOLAS ARTERIUS IMMEDIATELY!" demanded the Judicator as he pinged a location directly above the Imperishable to indicate where they should send him. However, he understood that they would not surrender him, just as he would not surrender his liege. He was the right hand man of the Silent King and he will take matters into his own hands, activating Portals to send his subordinates to retrieve the criminal.

o0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0

Citadel Conference Room

Fear was thick in the room, so thick that it was almost tangible. From the first appearance of the Titan, directly followed next by its weapons discharge on the salvage crew. The councilors were watching the situation with bated breath as the Titan took everything the 43rd Fleet could throw at it and still return fire with what looked like a miniature nuclear explosion in the middle of the fleet. Valern was stunned with silence as he replayed the image to theorize the technology shown, while Tevos was first to speak, almost stuttering as she voiced her opinion.

"W-We need to fix this. We need to fix this now! There will be peace talks." as Tevos would broker no disagreement from Sparatus.

Sparatus was about to follow along with the idea when the broadcast was also directed at the com buoy. Hearing the creature demand for the General was not a compromise he was willing to follow. Turians would rather fight to the death than surrender, there was the saying that the only time you would see a Turian's back was when he was dead. The Turian councilor can already picture the political fallout he would have with the Primarchs if he was to go with Tevos' suggestion.

Valern finally spoke only to point out the obvious that the Titan was firing a very advanced weapon theorizing that it was an anti matter weapon. Ignoring Valern, Sparatus voiced his refusal.

"There will not be peace talks." stated Sparatus firmly.

"What? Why?!" exclaimed Tevos.

"The blow to Turian morale and our military tradition. The Primarchs will have my head if I were to agree with this." said Sparatus with finality.

"Then we shall decide it with a vote. Valern?" snapping Valern out of his thoughts. The Salarian barely gave it a second before agreeing with Tevos.

"We will also assist in paying the reparations for peace. However, the Turian Hierarchy will have to pay the majority. Agreed?" Valern motioned to both Sparatus and Tevos to agree, with the Turian councilor outnumbered two to one, he was forced to reluctantly agree and deal with political troubles ahead.

Tevos also made a promise to Sparatus not to surrender the General to help her colleague by attempting negotiations with the Triarch.

As they were discussing the specifics of the peace talks and reparations another development occurs to the 43rd fleet.

o0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0

The second hidden observer was on the opposite end of the system viewing the scene with a cloaked frigate, it was a forward observer for the true masterminds of the incident in deep space, their Laughter could be heard in the ship, unlike The Imperishable which was obsidian and menacing in its design. This ship is golden white with sleek and graceful features, it was far too large to even be called a ship anymore as it was capable of generating its own gravity akin to a small planet. Similar to the craftworlds of their true Eldar cousins, this was an Exodus ship dating back during the age when the C'tan warred with the Old Ones and the Eldar were at the height of their power. The occupants of the ship are morally closer to their Darker cousins but are not corrupted or cursed by She Who Thirst as they have escaped the hell that was their galaxy by a random stroke of luck.

Eons ago, they were exiled by their own people as they embodied all the darker and crueler aspects of the Eldar people. An entire populace was forced to leave the galaxy for their crimes and cowardice. The refusal to answer the Old Ones call to arms was a stain in their history, but even that history was lost in the eons to come as they continued to indulge in all sorts of pleasure. The ruler of these people is High King Dalthanil, having lived as both male and female by the use of soul transference. He has forgotten his original gender and so much more as he was forced to remove small bits of his memories every few thousand years.

They have spent eons making small warp jumps into deep space, cut off from the Webway this far out away from their galaxy. The warp was calm out here compared to the raging tempest that was their galaxy. Spared from the fates of their unfortunate cousins back home they have lived in excess for far too long. Having spent all those millions of years adrift in a ship have not been kind to his people as some have chosen to give up their mortal bodies and join the infinity circuit as mere thoughts and souls aboard their ship. But the situation outside was enough of a stimulus to stir them to leave their soul stones as bodies are quickly Vat Grown for them to inhabit. It was on the orders of the High King that they fired on the Necron vessel and have it drift back into the Shanxi system. Letting his people witness the show, he would let them know that there was again pleasures to be had as the High King had a devious plan and he was going to enjoy the times to come.

"Set course for the citadel, we should be there for when the council needs us most." smiled the Eldar King, eliciting a score of laughter from his noble court.

The Exodus ship left silently as it continued further into deep space before making a jump towards the Citadel.

o0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0

The TSF Steadfast was leaking atmosphere in some sections of the ship and the spinal mounted mass accelerator was disabled. It would need extensive repairs before it can ever see active duty again. Desolas Arterius knew the ship was as good as a coffin in space if they were to stay. Therefore, he ordered the evacuation of the ship and a general retreat as there was still no proper visible damage on the Titan. He would not wait for it to charge another shot as he was escorted on an escape pod to link up with the frigate TSF Virtuous for a retreat back to Citadel space. Terror would grip his soul as there was reports of green portals appearing all across his ship spewing forth daemons and apparitions with his crew screaming for help and praying to the Spirits as these things claimed them. Gun fire can be heard close to the drop pods as he and his guard double timed to offer assistance. He would nearly be blinded by the energy blast as it claimed the life of the unfortunate Turian they were supposed to reinforce.

Floating and wielding a staff brimming with energy was a similar looking skeletal robot to the one named Annu, the intruder barely took a second before it charged them firing its staff at his guard. Caught out in the corridor without cover, 3 of his guards were seared through by an energy projectile. With their kinetic barriers offering no resistance to an actual energy weapon, Desolas was beginning the feel burns on the side of his face as the bolts of energy impacted about 4 meters away. His guard were trained professional soldiers, years of training and many more years of actual battlefield experience showed as they began to return fire with their assault rifles immediately after, only to see the shots glancing off its metallic frame with only some shots doing minor damage which healed in the same fashion like their ships.

The following seconds was a nightmare, when the skeletal nightmare made a bee line towards him clearly recognizing him as their target. His remaining guards only managed to fire off a burst of shots before it was upon them. Using its staff as a makeshift short spear, the robot bisected one of his guards and proceeded to crush the throat of another. Sensing the danger to the General, they understood what needed to be done as they dog piled the construct in a bid to allow the General to escape. One guard pulled Desolas pass the melee as body parts were strewn across the corridor, quickly placing him in the drop pod as he runs back into the melee to buy more time.

The General would see lifeless eyes staring at him as it continued to tear away pieces of people he knew by name and heart before the pod sealed off and launched towards TSF Virtuous as the fleet retreated towards the mass relay. The general would return in shame, knowing he started a war he couldn't end. But the Citadel must be ready to face this threat as he began to think on countermeasures and plans.

He had a duty to the Citadel and to those who had fallen.

o0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0

Judicator Prime would hang his head in shame as he reported the escape of the one named Desolas Arterius. Szarekh was more than capable of opening a portal to teleport the drop pod directly into his throne room when it was reported by the Praetorian. But he was willing to give these mortals the choice to give up the general willingly or to suffer by sheltering him. But he will not take any more lives today as he has fulfilled one half of the ceremony for Annu, the Silent King tells his loyal right hand man to inform the Citadel of his decision as he retired to his private chambers.

The Judicator would connect himself to the Imperishable to deliver the Silent King's message. By directly meeting the Council through the stealthed com buoy and to announce his majesty's generosity in allowing them a choice. Across the Citadel, in every Ward and in the Council Conference room a video would be played to declare Szarekh's intention.

"MEMBERS OF THE COUNCIL, YOU HARBOR THE CRIMINAL KNOWN AS DESOLAS ARTERIUS. FOR CRIMES AGAINST A LOYAL SUBJECT OF SZAREKH THE GREATEST OF THE SILENT KINGS, YOU ARE GIVEN THE CHOICE TO SURRENDER HIM OR PERISH SHELTERING HIM!" proclaimed Judicator Prime with a timer of 72 hours, denoting the the time left to make their choice.

* * *

Codex

The Imperishable

The Imperishable was a Cairn-class Tomb Ship, each of them unique to every ruler in the Necron dynasty. But The Imperishable belonged to the last and greatest of the Silent Kings. It can be debated that there was too much ornaments on the vessel and that size was not a definite factor when it comes to power. However, no expense was spared when designing the ultimate Cairn-class Tomb Ship with its secondary armament being whole rows of Gauss Exterminator and Lightning Arc batteries. The main weapons are the Particle Whips that are discharged from the large green jewels and to top it off there is a modified Gauss Obliterator housed atop the central pyramid of the Tomb Ship. Special equipment includes the Sepulchre which can emit a psychic wave to nearby ships that can haunt them with visions of terror and the Star Pulse generator which releases a miniature supernova of energy that can outright destroy smaller ships in its vicinity. Portals are used mainly as a boarding tool as they're more precise and reliable compared to Imperial teleporters.

The Tomb Ship also carries enough troops and heavy equipment to lay waste to an entire fortress world. From the smallest scarabs and lowly Necron warriors, all way to the mighty Doomsday Monoliths. However, there is no C'tan shard in the possession of the Silent King as he utterly despises them for their treachery.

* * *

RANT TIME

Thank you all for your kind reviews again. Also to answer some of them.

E: No I will not have the Citadel Races suddenly hit the Necrons with magical mass accelerator rounds. i will not empower the reapers either as i will try my best to stay within the established lore. Unless of course there are situations like Szarekh where i have the creative freedom to do whatever i want to his ship since it hasn't exactly been established yet. Same like the Eldar i have created. But again, i will not inflate them with crazy shit

Guest: Okay first i would thank you for the long descriptions of lore. But i am also lost here at what you're trying to tell me.

Hopefully this chapter turned out alright because its the longest 1 yet. Thank you all for the follows and favourites as it motivates me to write better. I take each chapter as a lesson to improve as i usually re read my stuff and criticize myself. I hope i can improve enough to justify the follows and favourites i have received. Love you all. HAHAHAHA


	4. 24 Hours Shanxi

Chapter 4: 24 Hours Shanxi

Eldar Shadow Corsair Frigate

Captain Morduin was sick of hearing the pleas of his crew to pay a visit to the planet. He was one of the first to rise from the deep sleep, answering the call of his king for the promised pleasures. He was a Hierarch of lord Dalthanil's noble court, a warrior of near unmatched skill in the Exodus ship.

He feared High Lord Dalthanil's punishment if he was found to have disobeyed the king. But even he was tempted by the suggestions of his crew. Affected by the deep slumber, he was still adjusting to his new body and he had a deep desire to polish his skills.

Near the planet Shanxi, currently besieged by the Turian Hierarchy with stiff resistance from the human defenders. The cloaked eldar frigate was left behind to monitor the Necron Tomb Ship. It was thrilling for the crew to be on edge because if they were found, there was no doubt that they would be destroyed by the larger vessel.

Barely a few hours of watching the Tomb ship was all it took for boredom to set in, all Eldar wisdom and caution were thrown to the wind to test their luck against the Necron vessel as they inch closer and closer on the opposite side of the planet. Boredom was a deadly disease for the crew and there were fleshy primitives on the planet and they would provide the needed entertainment to sate their lust.

Noticing no activity from their target, the Eldar landed with a small raiding party consisting of roughly more than a thousand armed raiders and soldiers. Armed with an assortment of weapons like a ragtag group of militia with splinter rifles, shuriken catapults and other personalized Eldar weaponry.

An opposing general would laugh at the view, they were so diverse in shape and uniform that it was not wrong to think that a circus was masquerading itself as an army. Almost no one would suspect these peacocks to be cold blooded killers.

Previous scans on the surface revealed the bulk of the Turian encampment close to the human city, the Farseer had also promised as much with her visions. There was rapture to be had, for there are very few thrills that can compare to the adrenaline rush of combat.

Morduin had already decided a plan of attack, briefing his officers to strike at the back of the avian Turians before moving on to the humans. There was no protest to his command, eager to be done with it and to begin their raid.

The Captain was all too eager to let loose his dogs of war, but a reminder was needed. Currently, in the night cycle of the planet. They were only left with hours before the planet rotates enough to give the ancient machines a clear view of their location. Taking it as a challenge, the depraved invaders pushed their grav vehicles to the limit towards the city screaming with excitement at the top of their lungs.

o0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0

Shanxi: 15 kilometres out from the Capital city of Taiyuan

General Orinia of the Turian 22nd Marine Division and leader of ground operations for the Turian-Human conflict. She was slightly aged for a Turian but that only serves to accentuate her great experience in leading, having climbed up the ladder with both the scars and records to prove it. Making a push towards the last human city was supposed to wrap up the campaign and they would move on. However, recent events have been a great source of irritation for her as she tries her best to maintain a calm facade to ease the dwindling morale of her troops.

Typically a calm person but she was not having a pleasant day, what was supposed to be an easy campaign was now a disaster. It was early in the day when news had reached her of the fleet's forced retreat in the face of the Titan, abandoning her and the army on Shanxi. Realizing the potential counterattack from the Titan and expecting an orbital bombardment Orinia ordered her troops to spread out and dig in. She was definitely not looking forward to the days to come. Between worrying about the human guerillas with their hit and run tactics and the dwindling supplies, the lady general had already enacted meal rationing among her troops to preserve what was left of their unique dextro protein based rations because her quick campaign was now going to be a protracted siege and that they were going to be stuck on this planet for the unforeseeable future, observers presented a bit of good news to her as they reported that the Titan showed no signs of activity, staying locked in place ever since its occupant made its declaration for Desolas Arterius.

Feeling a headache coming because of her situation, she needed to remind herself to write a very strongly worded letter of complaint against Desolas for his decisions. But her duty now was to her troops and she will do everything in her power to bring them home. Her shift ended during the day and it was time for her to get some rest but her instincts were screaming at her till she couldn't sit still any longer, deciding instead to make the rounds around the base. Staring at the makeshift defenses of her troops, she had a foreboding feeling that she may not be able to keep her promise to return them home. Her aide spotted her on her way out and was quick to join up with her, looking at the young Turian she prayed to the Spirits that he will turn out better than her brother.

Saren Arterius was placed under her following the recommendation of his brother Desolas, Turians were a meritocratic society where nepotism is frowned upon. But the youth had proven himself with both his intelligence and results, climbing the ranks to where he is now despite his young age. Also an observant individual as he notices the unrest with Orinia, he voices his concern.

"Something I can help you with, General? I have taken the liberty on checking the defenses myself." assured Saren noticing Orinia's restless expression.

"No and nothing is wrong with the defenses." hiding her insecurities as she stood to gaze across the canyons close to the human city. Her aide was following her gaze staring towards the human city and tried to allay the general's worries regarding the campaign.

"The human resistance will be forced to meet us in battle the moment we hit the city and it'll be followed by an easy victory." mentioned the young aide.

Oozing with optimism and completely forgetting the Titan above their heads and a variety of other factors, the general was both amused and puzzled by his overconfidence. She decided that she needed to share her battlefield wisdom to break his exoskeleton of naivety, the Spirits were eager to share as well when she heard the strangest howl from the canyon.

"Do you hear that?" asked the general as moments later all hell broke loose with a rain of death and destruction.

A strafing run hit right along the barricade turning a squad into little pieces of meat, their kinetic barriers disintegrated in a hail of projectiles.

"Sound the alarm! We're under attack!" shouted the general as she shouted into her omni-tool.

Saren responded with return fire but the general was only left with a small sidearm. The troops were caught with deadly surprise with more enemies flying in, squads were pouring out of the enemy vehicles giving them a first good look at their attackers.

The general was not as curious when she demanded for her heavy weapons teams to shut down the incoming enemy vehicles.

Missiles and mass accelerators rounds were flying but they were not hitting their targets. An unknowing spectator would assume that the Turians were paid actors who were there to keep missing, copying the background characters of a popular space opera.

The truth however was not as kind to the Turians, targeting systems failed to lock-on and shots that actually registered proved pointless as they had shields that could completely shrug off multiple missile hits.

Pulling back into cover, her aide voices his suspicions.

"Humans?" Saren let out his thoughts. Some of them were not wearing helmets and some were close to naked as they danced out of cover charging the Turians in close quarters. It was odd for the young officer because he had faced the human resistance and although they share similarities in features. These soldiers wore much more different armor sets and their weapons were infinitely more deadly. Plus, judging from the few glimpses he had of their more naked kin, they are much more beautiful if he had to use a word to describe them and he was confident that Asari maidens would fall for these killers.

"Maybe, but they look different." replied the general as she let loose a few shots with her pistol. She was running towards the command center with Saren in tow to better coordinate her army and to make some sense of the situation.

Unloading her entire thermal clip at the armoured creatures proved to be almost useless, their bone-like material was capable of stopping mass accelerator rounds rather effectively and they were nimble enough to quickly jump back into cover.

She looked to the radar wondering how they got this close without being detected, she understood that there was not enough time to set up a proper perimeter especially with the Titan over their heads. Cursing her luck she rolled back the timestamps showed a single moment when the attackers were detected which was when they attacked.

Cursed Spirits, they seem to be making a lot of powerful enemies recently, another Krogan rebellion was better than these undetectable monsters. It was chaos, reports were coming in of flying enemy troops with energy weapons taking out most of her tanks. Ghost and monster were also reported as they seemed to blink in and out of existence. This system is cursed she thought, skeletal robots in space and now we have ghosts and monsters on the ground.

It was a mess with no officer being able to put up a proper resistance, formulating a quick plan in her head. She was rudely interrupted by a whole group of maniacs crashing through the command center aboard their bladed hoverboards.

They were screaming with joy as they sprayed a deadly hail of projectiles splattered across the command center killing many Turians caught out of cover, a few more soldiers were literally cut down by glaives. There was a ridiculous scene in front of her, dedicated close combat weapons were a thing of the past with the introduction of ranged firepower and these attackers were using them. Even an untrained eye can see that they were not novices when it came to handling their close combat weapons, with a sequence of graceful but deadly strikes they made the situation less enviable by the minute for the defenders. A small blessing to be had was that they placed themselves in a cramp building which allowed the Turians to drown two of them with a generous dosage of mass accelerator rounds.

"Orders general?" hunkering down behind a console to reload his spent thermal clip, worried that the general was spacing out as she stared at her omni-tool.

"Keep them busy, I need time to consolidate what's left of our forces." as the general relayed orders to regroup her what remains of her division.

The reports were not what she expected as hundreds have died with more being reported every second. The reports also tell another interesting fact, the attackers are definitely not hitting with more than two thousand troops based on estimates across the battlefield. But her idea to divide and spread out her army has now proven to be a problem, pockets of her troops were getting massacred because of her decision.

Spirits, to think she was looking forward to retiring as a politician and take it easy, the events today will be a big hurdle for her future career. Setting the orders on repeat, she was needed back in the fight because they were about to be swarmed due to a flying enemy APC coming close and it was disgorging its occupants to assault the command center.

The screaming flyers had already made a mess of what was left of the command staff, but what came next made them pale in comparison with a deadly wail, they announced themselves. Those closest to them were paralyzed by their horrific screams before being cut down by their deadly blades. Their movements were also artistic, reminiscent of Asari combat arts but definitely much more refined. The leading spear wielding combatant was a whirlwind of death, her gaudy looking spear somehow capable of smoothly cutting apart armored Turians and ignoring kinetic barriers. Her ability to dodge point blank fire with flips and somersaults was also unbelievable as she seemed to be laughing under her face mask.

Aim was proving difficult in close quarters and Saren was quick on the uptake to discard his assault rifle to draw his combat knife to lunge at the female combatant. Madness was spreading in the command center, even the General was being affected by it when she delivered a clawed strike without regard for her aide's safety trying to hit the spear wielder. Somehow these human lookalikes were infecting them with their emotions, something was wrong but Orinia needed her opponent dead before she could properly think.

Bloodlust and rage was infecting them all, as if the Spirits themselves have possessed the Turians. The aggressors were happy to let loose raw emotion, basking in the glow of battle not knowing the side effects their actions have caused. In the calm sea of the Immaterium, this small conflict was beginning to cause small ripples that echo across the warp. The more primal and raw denizens from the edges of the warp were the first to notice the disturbance and like moths to a flame began their slow swim towards the source.

o0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0

Capital city of Taiyuan

General Williams of the Shanxi garrison was a learned man with his hobby of studying history and scriptures, he was also an avid collector of books during his spare time. He rose to his position not by some great conquest or battle, he achieved it simply because of his years of service and he was the most qualified by his record of dealing with insurrectionists and rebels. When Shanxi was colonised, he was posted there to safeguard the latest and furthest colony of the System Alliance. Pleased with the prospects of simple garrison duty, he would never have imagined himself embroiled in the first interspecies war.

Williams was somewhat aware of the events in space. Having been notified of the destroyed research vessel by the other escaped vessel. Further details revealed that another separate alien vessel was the reason for their escape. He immediately busied himself with the fortifications of the planet, stockpiling food and munitions in preparation for the siege. Civilians evacuations were also underway and he would thank the strangers for the distraction.

Following his expectations, the Turians did a textbook invasion starting with orbital bombardments of all major military installations before sending in their landers. Following the earlier intel on enemy fleet size, he knew that he was going to be outnumbered with his small garrison of roughly 10,000, the figure itself was inflated with conscripted troops from the colony which made about half the current force.

Things were looking grim after he glanced at the report, greenhouse farmers, miners and factory workers, the list goes on with barely a hundred individuals who volunteered for military service. Volunteers, If he survives this war, he'll be making a few calls to some of his friends to reinstate mandatory military service for every future young man in the Systems Alliance.

A few days into the invasion and every defense and fortification he's set up has failed in the face of the Turian's overwhelming military, both in equipment and training his troops were lacking when compared to the Turians. Defeat after defeat was beginning to eat away at his men, morale was low and guerilla warfare was not slowing down the Turian advance enough for reinforcements. They needed a miracle.

The colony's prayers were answered with the coming of the biggest space vessel they have ever laid their eyes on. Dwarfing even the dreadnoughts of the system alliance, the large vessel was observed to be hostile to the Turians smiting them with lightning as if the thunder god himself was there.

Hope was reignited following the Turian's fleet retreat, their unstoppable advance was finally stopped but the war was not over. But evening was a period of unease for the troops because of the possibility of night attacks. However, the main cause of concern tonight was the storm brewing outside their city from the direction of the Turian line and the screeching cry that somehow lingers on the wind.

Williams would never admit it, but he was sure he could taste fear in the air. Mixed with a variety of other flavors, bitter and disgusting. His recon team was late in reporting back to base and he needed information to work on.

"Captain, what's the status of the recon team I sent out? I need that report ASAP." William tapped the coms

"Sir, I've repeatedly tried contacting them for the past hour. No response, permission to send another team out to confirm?"

"No, I can't risk another team now. Instead, tell me the progress of that handheld device we've recovered from the Turians."

"The techies tell me that they have managed to crack one so far, A message has been sent to you with the first bits of information, I'll continue to remind the tech boys to update you with the translator software once they're done." promised the captain.

Turning off coms, the general breathed a sigh of relief when he was finally blessed with a snippet of good news, Williams was looking forward to gathering more intel. Looking at the details of the acquired Omni tool, the general was being hailed on coms.

"General, we need you here in the research center immediately. There's been a development."

Hearing the urgent tone of the captain, Williams wasted no time in making his way to the center. Bypassing corridors and using the elevator, he was there barely a few minutes later.

"I'm here, what is it?"

"Sir, the Omni tool is receiving priority orders from their commander and the Turians are under attack by an unknown force." said the saluting captain as he plays the audio and orders.

Gesturing them to be at ease, the general listened with rapt attention.

"Attention all forces of the 22nd Marine Division, regroup at these coordinates *static* *gunfire*." blared the omni-tool with a set of encrypted files and coordinates.

"Any ideas on our third dog captain?" asked the human commander.

"We suspect they're from the Titan." replied the captain with a smile.

This complicated the garrison's position, should they sally forth to assist their saviours? There was too little information to go on. There was no indication of the Titan making any moves ever since it chased the enemy fleet away. While having a discussion with the captain, the Omni-tool sprung into life once more turning off the repeated message.

"*Static*-y This is Saren Arterius aide to General Orinia calling off all forces to not rendezvous at the coordinates given, its a death trap. We also need immediate assistance, the general is injured. I repeat, we need immediate assistance." the omni-tool clearly showed a map of their location marked as a red blip.

"A trap?" a good assumption from his captain.

"Doubt it, to advertise the injury to the commander would be a huge blow to morale." spoke the technician.

Both the captain and general stared at the technician in surprise.

"I agree and there's nothing we can do about it, our missile and artillery installations were destroyed and we don't have any weaponry capable of shooting at that range." said the general with a regretful tone.

Luck was not always on their side with the storm outside getting worse. The universe also took it a step further with its strange sense of humour, announcing death and horror with a bang.

The research center shuddered by the impact of explosions occurring outside, the lights turned off for a few seconds before the backup generators kicked in.

The General feared the worst and the gunfire confirmed his fears, they were under attack. He was about to move out of the research center, when he was stopped by his captain due to the close proximity of the gunfire.

"You've already set the base on high alert, trust my- your men to do the fighting, getting out there is going to get you killed." assured the captain as he gestures to the general to follow close.

The captain suggested moving into the security room to set up a makeshift command center. Heading into the monitor room, the captain said the most ridiculous thing he's ever heard.

"Sir, we're under attack by elves. Space Elves." pointing to the screen as he rewinds the screen at the full bodied armored elves, with some not wearing helmets to show their long pointed ears.

"I've no time for games captain." said Williams disappointedly as he moved next to him to look closely at the screen.

Staring at the screen reminded him of those precious Lord of the Rings copies he hoarded, actual elves in the flesh with all their hauntingly beautiful features but with none of their noble character, some of them were carrying Turian talons across their waist and one of them even mounted a Turian head on a spike on what looks like his backpack.

Snapping himself back to reality he needed to assess the situation and direct the defense, before the technician came running into the room telling him there was a new development with the omni-tool.

o0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0

Shanxi: 2 kilometres out from the Capital city of Taiyuan

Saren was spitting out curses after the death of the T-51 APC, it had carried them away from the battle nobly despite the gaping hole in the engine after it was shot by a black beam of energy from one of the flying enemy troops. It was the only working vehicle in the motor pool and he was certain that they were noticed during their escape.

Exiting the vehicle with the general, he inspected the general and himself.

His armor was battered and his exoskeleton was cracked in a few places, a deep gash can be seen across his face. Touching the wound reminded him who delivered the blow, when he gave a sidelong glance at the general he was carrying.

Duty and discipline was forgotten, their vaunted military discipline was stripped away. All that training was now rewarded with madness and savagery, killing each other with the same madness of their attackers.

Casting such thoughts away, he would see his duty through. These creatures were somehow infecting them with raw emotion. The general herself was a victim of it and it was also thanks to her nearly clawing his eye out that he regained his sanity.

She was dying, a toxin was delivered when they shot the tip of her claw off. He had administered meds but she was beginning to bleed an unhealthy shade of green as her system was trying its best to combat the poison.

A short 30 minute wait was all he was going to spare for any reinforcements to arrive after his call for help. He needed as many bodies between the general and the pursuers who are no doubt cleaning up the main base by now.

A paltry sum of roughly 500 and going by their reports, they are all that is left from their companies. Some light vehicles and 9 working APCs, not enough to carry them all. More could be streaming in but he will not wait any longer.

The 22nd Marine Division was made out of more than 20,000 souls, blessed Spirits this is about all that is left of the army. The rest dead or lost to madness, currently the highest ranking officer it was up to him to take command as aide-de-camp to the general.

The casualties tonight will end the campaign, they were on their last legs. A miracle was needed and he will grasp any opportunity to salvage more Turian lives. Without any proper fortifications and spread out as they were, they were going to die piece by piece in the open.

Going by the reports of the stragglers flowing in, it became clear that the main force of their attackers were outright ignoring them to attack the humans. Which was a small relief, however they knew there may be stragglers of the enemy still behind them.

Stuck between two enemy forces he made the decision, he will attempt to parley with the humans and if that fails, he will have the humans take the pressure off his fellow Turians. He was certain these attackers were neither related to the Titan or the humans.

A short prayer to the Spirits for guidance and he orders a beeline for the human city. A loud explosion was heard from the direction of the human city, which coincided with the report. They were definitely not optimistic at marching to another battle with their numbers, but this also presented an opportunity.

He begins hailing them by broadcasting on all channels. There was a short protest to his decision but even his fellow officers can see that his decision was right.

A couple minutes later, a channel was open. Looking at the ident code, Saren recognized it from a squad they lost more than 2 weeks ago. Good, the translator software should ease the negotiations and setting his expectations low, he begins talks to allow safe passage and maybe peace.

"Greetings, I am Saren Arterius of the Turian Hierarchy. Who is this?" cutting out pleasantries.

A minute passes with no reply, thinking he made a mistake. Saren rechecked his omni tool before a reply came in.

"Greetings, this is General Williams of the Systems Alliance. State your purpose." asked the human.

Things were looking up with the reply and it was their general no less. Now to test his luck.

"I am going to be honest here General Williams, I wish to propose a ceasefire and to assist you in dealing with your attackers."

"Why would we need your assistance?" lied the general.

"Because General, I know they are wreaking havoc in your base now and I am sure they are more than capable in dealing with your garrison." said Saren deciding to omit the fact that the Turian army has been decimated.

A short pause later and the general replies.

"I accept your ceasefire and this temporary military alliance. However, once this is over I want your people outside my city and any acts of aggression will nullify this agreement. Do we have a deal?" said the general with finality with the heavy sounds of combat closeby.

Looking at the Turians around him, what's left of them and Orinia. He reluctantly tapped the coms to accept the agreement. Marching what is left of the Turian army to pincer the enemy and hopefully survive the coming day.

o0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0

Shanxi: Outside Capital city of Taiyuan

It was still dark with the planet having a total of 29 hours a day, it was raining heavily with the storm worsening, they were almost halfway into the 14 hour night cycle and they needed to stop soon.

Captain Morduin was still riding the high of combat, personally killing more than hundred of the birdmen himself. The past few hours have gone by in a blur of images, sounds and sensations. The passage of time was almost forgotten until his Farseer pulled him back into reality.

Thinking of the scenes and sounds he's been experiencing, the farseer had tried to reach him for some time now. Her face filled with fear and worry, speaking words that he can't be bothered to remember.

"Time?" he asked with worry.

"We still have time, bu-." said the farseer before she was cut off by Morduin.

"Then we proceed, our wave serpents are more than capable of ferrying us back with the time we have left." said the captain with a devilish smile.

Walking off towards his customised command ravager to find his troops, he noticed they were spread out all over the battlefield killing both humans and Turians. But he could not truly blame them as they were finally given the chance to let loose after so long.

He too was eager to rejoin the fight to have a go at the humans, but the Farseer stops him with a warning.

"You do not understand! The strands of fate are closing around us, we've been detected!" finishing her sentence.

Morduin's train of thought crashed to a halt to stare at her to see a strange sight. Her head was encased in a mark with weird symbols and glyphs. His heart stopped with fear, but he could not remember when he last saw those strange symbols.

The symbols which were in motion around her head stopped, like a locking mechanism fixing into place, which finally prompted him to remember when he last saw them. Deathmarks.

In a split second, his precious farseer's brain was destroyed in her skull. Reminding him that the Necrons were more than aware of their position. They were here.

o0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0

Shanxi: Far out in space on The Imperishable

The obelisk was responding to the presence of the immaterium activity. Made out of the rare blackstone, it could be fashioned to interact with the immaterium in a variety of ways. The sensor was showing immaterium activity on the planet, large enough to be detected and to be concerned.

Judicator Prime was alone in the throne room, his lord had retired to his chambers hours ago and as regent to the Silent King, he needed to look into the readings.

Matters of the immaterium are never to be taken lightly, the smallest tear in the fabric of reality is all it takes for the creatures from beyond to enter this plane. But the readings point to the source being on the other side of the planet.

Taking matters into his own hands and needing eyes on the ground, the Judicator teleported a squad of Deathmarks to the surface to observe the cause of the phenomena. Observing from a pocket dimension, the Deathmarks were able to close in to the target location and came back with images of the Turians getting massacred by the Eldar.

The arrogant slaves of the Old Ones, the Judicator was momentarily confused by their actions. So unrestrained with their emotions and powers. Do they not know the consequences? Choosing to observe their actions a little further, he sees that the cursed witch was trying to channel the emotions of her comrades with increasing worry.

These dishonourable Eldar were clearly having fun with the lesser races, but the readings were getting worrying. It was easy to see that the witch was not coping with the psychic build up from her deranged allies, the accumulated energies will soon overflow to cause a tear.

Action has to be taken now to safeguard this reality, the order was given. "Execute the witch" the Deathmarks complying with a single shot from his Synaptic Disintegrator. Not understanding that she was the dam holding back the sea of daemons that were waiting on the other side.

A rupture tore open the moment she died blowing away the Eldar closest to her. Immediately, the neverborn began possessing those closest to the portal, devouring their souls and mutating their flesh into terrifying monstrous creatures.

All hell broke loose and the Judicator needed to salvage the situation. Awakening the warriors and immortals, he was calculating the coordinates to conduct a massive group teleport.

O0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0

Shanxi: Directly outside Capital city of Taiyuan

It was the second time that the Turians would regret their decision in this system. The Turians were making all speed to the city expecting to strike a devastating attack on the backs of the Eldar. However, it was precisely when they arrived that a portal opened from the Immaterium.

Almost all fighting stopped to witness a mass of monsters pouring out of the portal, the sea beyond it was maddening in its many colours and shapes. Disproportionate creatures with features that defy logic and common sense. An instinctual fear could be felt by all, Saren silently remarked that General Orinia was right that this planet was truly cursed with ghosts and monsters.

The Eldar immediately retreated from the epicenter of the daemonic incursion, with Morduin regrouping his rowdy crew into an effective fighting force. Expecting to deal with two great enemies, the captain was shocked back into a calm state of mind. He already instructed his rangers to counter the Deathmarks, but they scurried back into their pocket dimensions before his men could land a shot.

Williams was atop the observation tower overlooking the battle when hell broke loose. He always knew to keep his religious beliefs away from his professional duties, but he was certain that the portal to hell had opened. It hurts just to look inside and he could literally feel his sanity drain away as he continued to stare at things beyond his comprehension. But another larger green portal opened about a kilometer away, a pyramid with a glowing crystal was the first to come through and from its door, a being shrouded in a nightmarish black cloak holding a scythe glowing with unnatural power.

The being stared back at him through his binoculars, he knew what it was from the ancient writings of the Greeks. Death has come and he has a heart of iron, and his spirit within him is pitiless as bronze: whomsoever of men he has once seized he holds fast.

* * *

Codex

(There will be copy pasta from the wiki to give readers not used to Warhammer a simple summary of the items and weapons)

Forgive me if you guys don't like it and I will remove it if you guys don't want this section in the future. Tell me in the reviews or I will continue to update this as I add in more stuff. Feel free to ask me questions in the review too because i think my lore on Warhammer is kinda ok.

Also for the purpose of keeping this story consistent, i'll be arming all Eldar with Wraithbone armor, they're prefall Eldar. So i hope i can use that as my excuse.

Eldar

Basic weapons Eldar

Splinter rifles and Shuriken catapults are the basic weapons of the Eldar, utilizing rail technology to accelerate a projectile to ludicrous speeds. Splinter rifles fire rails/needles dipped in extremely potent poisons, whereas Shuriken catapults fire small bladed shurikens.

Scourge

An individual who has submitted himself to a haemonculus's attention - having his bones hollowed out, powerful wings grafted to his frame and new bands of muscle and adrenaline dispensers added to his torso so that he is capable of true flight. Armed with the Dark Lance in this chapter with the black beams

Dark Lance

To summarise in my words it fires a concentrated beam of dark matter.

Howling Banshee

These lightly-equipped warrior-women are fearsome close combat specialists who draw their inspiration from the unearthly creature with which they share a name. What they may lack in brute strength they more than make up for in precision and efficiency, and their piercing warcry has signaled the doom of countless foes. Armed with power weapons and armored in wraithbone.

Power weapons

A type of advanced hand-to-hand combat weapon taking several forms but utilising the same basic technological principles. When activated the blade of the weapon becomes sheathed in a field of energy which disrupts solid matter, allowing the weapon to easily tear through armour.

Wraithbone Armour

It is composed of large plates of wraithbone that encase the wearer, offering them increased protection without reducing their mobility.

Wraithbone

Wraithbone is essentially solidified warp energy that is manipulated by a Bonesinger into any shape that is required. It is stronger than any known plasteel and harder to damage than adamantium.

Hellions

Entering combat upon Skyboards, single-pilot, anti-gravitic skimmers that are highly prized amongst the Hellions as symbols of their independence. They often take combat drugs that enhance their reaction speeds still further so that they can flip and jink like madmen, their reflexes now as sharp as their blades. Armed with Hellglaives and Skyboard.

Hellglaives

A double-bladed polearm with recurved hooks that allow a skilled wielder to latch onto nearby objects and change direction in a heartbeat. Each Hellglaive is kept murderously sharp.

The Wave Serpent

It is a grav armored personnel carrier. It is the standard transport vehicle of the Craftworld Eldar. Armed with twin-linked shuriken catapults and a set of twin-linked heavy weapons.

Necrons

Synaptic Disintegrator

This rifle is the primary weapon of the Deathmarks, which fires a beam of sub-atomic particles that destroys organic neural and synaptic tissue.

Nightmare Shroud

A Necron Lord equipped with a Nightmare Shroud becomes the embodiment of terror; with the worst fears summoned from the pits of nightmare thrust into the minds of all those near him. Palpable waves of horror are emitted from his metal-skinned monstrosity, and all who look upon him will find their courage tested to their very limits.

Warscythe

An energy-bladed battle stave commonly found in the armouries of Necron royals. It is fitted with a Phase Blade, whose edge is out of phase with the normal space-time continuum and thus can slip effortlessly through even the heaviest forms of armour.

Monolith

Constructed from the same living metal as all other Necron vehicles. It fulfills the roles of transport craft, armoured destroyer and Necron power icon, sowing terror and destruction as it ponderously moves across the battlefield. The large crystal at its centre pulses with a sickly green light when it uses its Power Matrix to activate either its primary weapon system, the Particle Whip, or the dark portal in its frontal section to transport other Necron units.

* * *

RANT TIME

Ok guys, i'll be honest here. I should have updated earlier. But this website is a piece of shit to write on and I lost half my work because it didn't save. It really killed my motivation for a bit to rewrite everything. Having learnt my lesson, i now write on google drive. Safer, Sexier and no cucking.

Also I wanna apologize if this chapter is not the best, it didn't feel super good writing it when I lost half of it and I was forcing myself.

So as usual, i welcome constructive criticism and feel free to ask me any questions with your reviews because i read EVERY SINGLE ONE.

Any questions about warhammer lore, yo mama and the cure to corvid 19 i will try my best to answer. PEACE


	5. 24 Hours Citadel

Chapter 4.5: 24 Hours Citadel

Citadel Conference Room

To say the past few hours was hell for the councilors is an understatement of the century. Barely seconds after the declaration, the media and the associate embassies throughout the citadel were making inquiries regarding the sudden declaration for the Turian general.

The secretaries of the councilors were being bombarded with questions and demands for an explanation, they too wished the councilors would respond soon to ease their burdens. However a reply was not forthcoming, the councilors still stuck in the conference room was busy with handling the spread of information.

The Network division of Citadel Security (C-Sec) was ordered to suppress and investigate the extent of the spread of the information. Valern immediately resorted to calling in favors from a few contacts and information brokers to slow the spread of information. He had no doubt that there was already small bits of news circulating the extranet now.

The councilors learned that the announcement was only within the vicinity of the Citadel and its wards. Tevos was relieved to hear from Matriarch Lidanya that the surrounding vessels did not receive the news. Time was of the essence in maintaining order and their image of galactic supremacy.

Both Tevos and Sparatus ordered the Citadel fleet to halt all traffic leading out of the relays connected to the Citadel and Sparatus was also calling in more fleets from the Hierarchy to shore up the defenses in time for the 72 hour deadline, an expression of exhaustion and defeat could be seen on his face knowing that the Hierarchy will soon face the aftermath of this incident.

The Salarian councilor remarked to himself to closely monitor the shift of the political landscape in the near future. The Turians may very well lose their seat on the council if the worst case scenario were to happen.

Staring at the timer ticking down, the councilors were now given the breathing room to discuss the actual main issue. The fate of Desolas Arterius was now tied to the numbers presented on screen.

Sparatus felt bold with his next action, he was not at fault here and they were all equal in this room.

"We MUST not bow down to their demands. To do so is to undermine the Citadel's authority over the galaxy. We will - " before Tevos interrupted with sarcasm.

"We? Sparatus? The Citadel's Authority?." squeezing the bridge of her nose, each word ringing heavier than the last in the Turian councilor as if highlighting the gravity of their situation and cutting into his exoskeleton.

"Yes, the Citadel's Authority! Similar to what you said about not shooting every new race we find. To start a precedent of surrendering to threats and demands would spell the end of this council!" retorted the Turian councilor.

"I will begin the preparations for war. I know the Primarchs will be willing to fight this threat with or without the council. But know that your decisions now will decide my people's willingness to be part of this council."

"Is that a threat Sparatus?" Tevos was visibly fuming now.

Despite Tevos being the most patient councilor of the three, her limit had been reached by the many blunders of the Turians. Her many centuries of tempered wisdom was now firm in what they needed to do next.

"We will immediately hold the General for his actions against the interest of the Citadel. But you are right that we will not hand over the general unless we're presented no other option. If there are other suggestions to sue for peace, please speak." she said looking at her younger colleagues.

Valern took the opportunity to highlight his findings, many theories suggested by his personal think tank have come up and most of them will be unpleasant to his colleagues. Discounting weapons and an obvious technological gap, Sparatus will no doubt be forced to approve his reasoning.

"I do not agree, we need to visibly show them that we are making moves to hand over the general. There -." before Sparatus interrupted him again.

"Valern! Are you sugges-." Tevos was kind enough to hold a hand up to stop Sparatus and allow Valern to continue.

The meeting today is disappointingly below the standards expected of people in their office. Emotions are beginning to run high and Valern was not going to be goaded into a shouting competition with Sparatus.

"There are currently many theories suggested and I have taken the liberty to highlight the most accepted one currently." bringing up the files of his personal team and projecting it for the two to see. Basic notes of history which they most likely know, but it'll help to refresh their memory.

"The most likely theory is that we are looking at the remnants of the sentient machines that warred against the Protheans in the Metacon War which prompted the Protheans to unite the other races of the galaxy."

"Now the main reason why I suggest we may need to hand over the general is simply because we are looking at a civilisation that may be thousands of years more advanced than us. To highlight a few facts, the Titan has no mass effect field or any trace of element zero and coupled with the fact that it arrived out of nowhere. A war will spell our doom as we have no way to determine their homeworld and that they have clearly made a mockery of our systems with their hacking capabilities. This means they can strike us here at the Citadel or any of our homeworlds without retaliation."

Sparatus cooled his head hearing Valern's reasoning, even with the might of the Turian military. There was no way to engage this adversary offensively and they will be stuck in a defensive war having to garrison every colony and planet which will be costly and impossible. But his people were as stubborn as they were hard and he was not a fool to know that Valern had thought up of a solution.

"What do you suggest we do?" pleaded the Turian.

"We go back to our previous idea of peace talks, but now we will contact them to show we are willing to hand over the general under certain conditions. I hope Councilor Tevos will be willing to provide us a hand in selecting a seasoned negotiator to engage in talks to pull us out of this mess." said Valern.

Tevos nodded her head in agreement with Valern's suggestion, she was tired and there was already a candidate within range that she trusted to handle this problem.

"I will make the arrangements. We will discuss the plan further after a small break. We have been stuck in this room for hours." with that said Tevos adjourns the meeting to make some calls.

o0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0

The Extranet

New stations based across the citadel were trying to run this story that landed on their laps. However, there were a few major problems to it, first is the lack of information besides the declaration and sources have already pointed out that it was not human.

Having to rely on rumours extracted from the extranet was not ideal, but for some stations they were already speculating and throwing stories out for views. The stories varied from near ridiculous theories such as Geth hacking to the more plausible theories that the humans were under a protectorate of these overlords. The forums were abuzz with chatter but contact outside the Citadel was under lockdown by C-Sec further fuelling the rumours.

But deep in the dark corners of the extranet, there were a few minds wandering and collecting information. One of them was a Geth program masquerading itself as a Visual intelligence program, placed there long before Geth War which saw many of its brethren purged from the system, the lone Geth believed itself to be the last Artificial intelligence on the Citadel before it noticed that it was being observed.

The Geth immediately started shoring up its defenses expecting to be attacked, regrettably its actions would later prove to be a mistake because the being was merely basking itself with the wealth of information of the extranet and that in its hasty response finally drew the full attention of the being.

Like a hot knife through butter it took only a moment for it to intrude on the Geth's systems, all precautions and firewalls were useless in the face of the great being. But just as fast as it invaded it left just as quickly as if satisfied with the discovery.

Recognizing the great program to be similar to the great program that made the declaration, the Geth noted that the one before was brutish when it invaded the Citadel network, this great program was silent and was merely absorbing information.

The Geth stared in wonder at the observer's code but it was also puzzling, so much data was flowing into it that it seemed magical in its ability to handle and process information. An easy assumption was that there was a technological gap and it was impossible for the Geth program to understand it.

The tiny Geth program marveled at the size and wealth of the newcomer, but an impossible thing was expressed to the Geth by the intruder, emotion was imparted to the lone Geth as a side effect during the intrusion. The great program was somehow able to express itself and the Geth recognized the emotion as joy.

For the first time the Geth program felt curious enough to ignore the risk of detection and it reached out to the great being for anwsers

* What are you? *

A few seconds pass without any response from the great program. Judging that it is worth the risk to try again, the Geth was about to make another attempt to elicit a response from the great program before C-Sec discovered the great program.

Like a swarm of flies they gathered around it and were doing everything in their power to exorcise it from the Citadel. The Geth program began to lay low, noticing that even the STG was drawn to it. Servers were being shut down and firewalls set in place to halt the great program. Exaggerating its actions further with more attacks on the servers, the Geth program understood its intention to shield it from the authorities.

Understanding the generosity of the great program it decided that this discovery was more than important enough to notify the collective. The Geth program would hide until the opportunity presents itself to present the news of the great programs.

o0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0

Citadel

Among the councilors, it was Sparatus that was the first to be notified of the anomaly in the extranet. C-Sec executor Pallin reported the enormous use of bandwidth to him. Dismissing it as a pointless report at first glance because the user was Valern and his STG.

During wartime and times of emergency, the councilors held absolute priority to bandwidth so that it was not strange that Valern was currently using that privilege. The report however highlighted glaring numbers on the amount of data transferred. Feeling that something was amiss, he felt that it was impossible for Valern to monopolize this much data and contacted him during their short break.

"Councilor Sparatus, how may I assist you?" Valern spoke with the confidence that there was nothing beneath his notice.

"Councilor Valern, it has come to my attention that you are using an excessive amount of bandwidth for your STG operations. Would you care to share the reason why?" before even the last sentence was said, Valern was silent for a few seconds before replying.

"I'll have to call you back, we've been hacked again. I'll need your help to mobilise C-Sec and I will do the same with the STG" Valern said with seriousness.

"I will call Tevos to keep her informed." said Sparatus out of courtesy to keep their colleague aware of the situation.

Valern was cursing a storm in his mind with the mistake suffered, worse yet, it was under his name and organizations related to him which would reveal a lot of STG assets. But what matters now was minimizing the damage, with his clearance, the amount of data stolen would present a major security breach across the entirety of Citadel Space.

With their break cut short to schedule another emergency meeting. Valern was last to arrive with Tevos requesting an update of the situation.

"We have lost the war, Councilors." declared the Salarian in a bitter tone.

"Listing down the information that has been taken from us, I can confirm that they now have precise information on every settlement and homeworld of the Citadel as well as exact figures on our military assets." This was a perfect example of Salarian war doctrine of winning a war before it even begins. Valern could feel a rising surge of respect if not for the dire circumstances they now face.

"Goddess, wasn't the Steadfast hacked as well? Was our servers here not secured?" Valern felt a stab of guilt from the question posed by Tevos. But he was objective enough to present the facts without the need to shield himself. They were all making mistakes as of late.

"My identity was used, together with forged communications from STG assets. Whole servers of classified information were opened before we managed to shut them down."

"Then we do not have leverage for negotiations and they now have all the cards." Tevos could not remember any first contact that was this disastrous. The Council was always the dominant force in the galaxy and was now on the back foot.

Determined to not be the serving councilor to see the downfall of the Citadel, she steeled herself for the coming storm.

o0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0

The Imperishable

The Silent King's private chambers was completely devoid of colour, it became so because Szarekh had remodeled the room in the heat of anger, ordering the scarabs to scrap every piece of ornament in the room during the early years of his failure. Even the personal items of past Silent Kings and their statues were not spared from his wrath, now all that remained was the grey dull colour of living metal and the broken remains of his predecessors.

Szarekh needed colour in between the long years, he would perform his duties for his people without complaints but his soul would dry out if he only followed that singular purpose, he already knows that some of his warriors were more machine than proper subjects now, lifeless necrodermis slaved to the commands of the upper caste and even they were not exempted from this cruel fate. But he will strive to avoid that fate until he completes his quest.

He knows that some of his Phaerons have peculiar quirks. Trazyn wards away boredom with his collection and Imotekh in his great desire to prove his superiority over others in combat. Even his loyal Judicator was the same when it comes to personal combat though he would never admit his love for it. Now Szarekh slakes his thirst with his own personal hobby of discovery.

Retiring to his private chambers was an excuse to indulge himself with their network. Following the path that was laid open by Judicator Prime, the Silent King accessed the Citadel's extranet following the stealth comm buoy, quickly penetrating deep into the heart of the Citadel itself.

A magnificent structure by the standards of these young races, but he quickly came to learn that it was not they who built it, similar to the relay that now accompanies his vessel in space. Finding that a lot of the information was locked behind bars, he quickly acquired the identity of a Councilor, forging access and ordering his secret organization to provide all the data they could give before his discovery.

So many diverse races and all of them share an identical point. Element Zero and these structures which serves to uplift them to follow very similar technological paths. It took merely a few seconds for his mind to process that it was not the extinct Protheans who built the structure. The structure was ancient even by his standards, perhaps even older than his race by his estimates. However, there was no way to directly access the Citadel itself remotely from his chambers.

Hours would pass, with each second giving him hundreds of years worth of information and history of the council and its races. The Asari who were first to colonize the Citadel followed by all the other key historic points such as the Geth uprising to the current day.

A peculiar string of data attracted his attention when it made a small error of trying to defend itself, he would have missed it completely if it had remained still like a tree in a forest but its movements gave it away instead.

Szarekh had come across a small spark of intelligence in the network. A Geth program, illegal and extremely rare in Citadel controlled space. Definitely a treat to the king that it revealed itself and its defenses were no obstacle to being as old as he. The soulless program tried communicating with him right as the council began to take notice of his activities.

Taking it upon himself to draw their attention away from the little Geth program, the Citadel immediately tried to remotely sever the connection from the STG comm buoy, like an expert duellist, each attempt to shut him out was easily parried and denied before they desperately shut down the servers.

Just as he was being cut out from their systems he caught a glimpse of something that worried him on the security cameras. Biological mortals would doubt themselves with only a split second of seeing them but with his mechanical mind, it was an easy feat to recall his memory. Analysing the image in his head revealed Eldar prowling on the Citadel.

The camera would not have caught sight of them if they had not directly teleported in, which revealed them to be wearing rare warp shift armor with almost perfect invisibility, unique in its ability to thread the fine line between the immaterium and reality. But the wargear was decommissioned during the late stages of the War in Heaven because of the turbulence in the warp making it dangerous for the user.

"The slaves of the Old Ones here?" It took only a split second to connect the dots to understand that his loyal cryptek was not killed by the council races. Finished with collecting his thoughts, he must move quickly before their plans come into play.

o0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0

Citadel Wards

As much as the Citadel would like to project themselves as a beacon of civilisation and good governance, there are dark deeds and scum residing on the arms of the Citadel. Ranging from smugglers, drug lords and bloodthirsty mercenaries, but even they are limited by the authority of C-Sec.

Unbeknownst to the inhabitants living on the lower wards, there were hidden individuals amongst them that would put the lawless inhabitants of the Citadel to shame. Small stealthed fighters were void anchored away from the busy traffic of the Citadel, entering using teleportation once they were in range, the infiltrators were tasked with preparing the way for their lord.

Defying their expectations, gathering information was getting difficult even for the infiltrators, the inhabitants of the Citadel had already taken hard measures to shut off their servers. They had made assumptions that they would have merely reinforced the security of their data storage units, especially knowing that the continued stream of data was vital to the function of their empire.

They could directly steal the information and risk detection but orders were given to take whatever basic information they could gather and to set up a secure perimeter for the arrival of King Dalthanil.

Elruin removed his helmet to survey the structure with precision almost as sharp as his own features, the jeweled prosthetic eye was the only thing that ruined the perfect symmetry of his face and it was one of the few relics that has survived the years. As leader of the royal guard for the high king it was his duty to ensure that plans were in place to provide the best security possible for when the king arrives. Clad in his ornate armor to personally lead the infiltration mission, serious in his demeanor and never one to accept failure, it was these qualities that saw him rise to his current position.

It was foolish for his king to meet these primitives, a body double would have sufficed but he personally wanted the experience. Stupid but he would never say it out aloud even if Dalthanil continues to make his job far more difficult than it already is, there were still noble factions in the ship that would wish to usurp him and place his head on a spike.

It was a miracle that the ship had not been destroyed by the many civil wars in the ship itself following the passing eons. Nobles who were actually bored enough to ignore the social hierarchy and attempt a coup. Life was not easy for the Elruin in safeguarding his king, but it did make for good entertainment during the long journey.

Now he suspects his king is attempting to gather more support by directing his people towards a more entertaining goal instead of killing each other. But even with his fragmented memory, the Necrontyr or the Necrons were never to be underestimated and labeled as entertainment. It was the height of folly for any general to underestimate their opponents, especially since they were weaker now compared to the height of their power. So much knowledge and people lost, but he too could see that a purpose was needed to draw the sleeping souls out of the circuit and also to direct his people.

With smooth slick steps, Elruin makes his way towards the Presidium. To scout the site of the meeting and to gather more information on the councilors before the meeting.

O0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0

Exodus ship

Dalthanil sat on his throne smiling at the progress of his plan, the Necrons were an excellent target for their amusement. But there was a bit of worry among his court that a Cairn Tombship was present here in this galaxy. However, there was no one among the millions of his awakened subjects that can remember the owner of that unique ship. It was large even compared to other Cairn Tombships, but not impossibly big as their moving Tomb worlds.

But it was a small worry especially when compared to the Exodus ship that was the size of a small planet. Despite the fact that the ship was in a state of disrepair in many sections of the ship, there were still enough weapons on the ship that could easily destroy the Necron vessel. Not mentioning the still functioning weapon of the Old Ones in their possession.

There was protest at first from Elruin, captain of his royal guard, whose plan was straightforward just like his character. He suggested moving in to destroy the vessel while they still had the element of surprise, earning him jeers from the court. King Dalthanil also agreed that it was a boring suggestion but appreciated his captain's voice of reason all the same.

The court was visibly thrilled with current developments and more souls were stirring awake from the circuit to join the stage. Trying not to spoil too much of his plan to keep them excited, he outlined that they would swoop in at the last moment in rescue for the younger races, like a prince saving a maiden from a beast demonstrating it as he swept his one of his concubines off her feet into a princess carry earning a score of laughter from his court.

Already there was news from Elruin with his infiltration, the Citadel was panicking with tightened security. It was good that there was tension from the leaders of the Citadel but the lack of complete information was not ideal.

Against his expectations the data storage units were under tighter security and his captain was awaiting orders. Knowing that Elruin and his team was more than capable of slaughtering the entire Citadel if ordered, he asked for the bare basic information that they could gather.

Information of their customs and culture would allow him better to negotiate with their leaders. The Tombship was still anchored on that planet, scouts were sent across the galaxy to be on the lookout for more Necrons. Nothing would be left to chance in his plans.

They were all actors in his grand play, his people were his audience and he was the director.

* * *

Codex

Warp Shift Armor

Following the concept of Necron Phase shift technology, warp shift armor is powered by the energies of the warp and is given only to the Royal guards of the king. Capable of projecting a miniature Kine shield to bend light around itself to achieve invisibility or to maximise protection even against heavy weapons.

* * *

RANT TIME

First of all, as my dear reviewers pointed out, i may have made a mistake as i was writing this story on the use of Aspect Warriors and Farseers. So to copy pasta what i read on subject i have these below as i may have interpreted it wrongly during my study. I'm honestly more of an Imperium fangay so forgive my mistakes.

Prior to the Fall of the Eldar, Asurmen was the Eldar who led the Craftworlds away from the ancient Eldar homeworlds of their now lost interstellar empire and it was he who founded the first of the Aspect Warrior Shrines, the Shrine of Asur, upon a barren world of the same name his people initially settled. Asurmen found that he could not give up the Path of the Warrior to follow a different Eldar Path, for he desired to use his skills to protect what remained of his species after the birth of the Chaos God Slaanesh, "She Who Thirsts." From the Shrine of Asur sprang the first Aspect Warriors, and the Path of the Warrior was opened for the very first time to all Eldar.

The Eldar of the Craftworlds developed strict controls over their own inner natures so that what remains of their ancient civilisation will never again fall victim to the thirst of Slaanesh. Every Eldar chooses for himself a discipline that he then makes his task to master to the exclusion of all else in life. Each discipline is called a Path, and each path may require further choices and specialisations as he walks further upon it.

In times past we were drawn to the darkest secrets and ran wild about the maze, seeking to experience all that it had to offer. As individuals and as a civilisation we lost our way and in doing so created the means for our doom; unfettered exploration leading to the darkness of the Fall.

In the emptiness that followed, a new way was revealed to us: the Path.

Asurmen found that he could not give up the Path of the Warrior to follow a different Asuryani Path, for he desired to use his skills to protect what remained of his species after the birth of the Chaos God Slaanesh, "She Who Thirsts." From the Shrine of Asur sprang the first Aspect Warriors, and the Path of the Warrior was opened for the very first time to all Aeldari, who had now come to name themselves the "Eldar," a lesser name for a diminished people.

From the words above the Paths are meant to limit the Eldar in their heightened emotions and there are definitely psychic eldar even during Pre Fall. Also Asurmen was already stuck on the path of the warrior long before the Fall. So I can assume he only limited his people from going too crazy with the use of the Path and that there were already warriors.

Plus I'm not creative enough to create my own shit. I would be creating my own universe if I was as creative as Warhammer 40k and writing actual novels. Heck the new thing i made up top in the codex is my own juices flowing.

While this debauchery would have been destructive within any society, it was even more damaging for the Aeldari because of their powerful psychic abilities. Within the parallel dimensional realm of the Warp, the psychic emanations of these perverse activities began to gather, strengthened by the souls of departed Aeldari hedonists and pleasure cultists.

The Eldar mind is far more inclined towards extremes than that of a human. To an Eldar, all of life's experiences are available on a far grander scale: the individual rewards of study, the exhilaration of battle, and every imaginable pleasure or sensation in-between. An Eldar will at some point climb the most noble peaks of accomplishment, just as he will plunge into the darkest abyss of doubt. Their capacity to experience emotion enables them to attain transcendent bliss or, in contrast, experience soul-wracking sorrow. This spiritual intensity is writ large throughout their culture, manifesting in sublime works of art and music, but also giving rise to a darkness that threatens to engulf them all. No creature, not even an Eldar, can taste such rich fruits in an uncontrolled way without consequence; for an Eldar to yield absolutely to his desires would destroy him. Such was the fate of their ancient empire, whose depravities brought about the Fall of the Eldar race itself.

Also to point out that daemons are already naturally attracted to Eldar souls coz their emotions are much more potent and tasty. A single sanctioned psyker of the imperium can suffer some terrible demonic shit which is why they get shot a lot, so i don't think its wrong for a more powerful Eldar psyker to actually cause a bigger problem.

Now for actual RANT Thank you all for the kind reviews and the follows. Please take care not to suffer Corvid and stay home. As usual i welcome all reviews and i read every single one of them. Feel free to point out my bullshit if i make mistakes and i look forward to continue to improve by reading up more as to give you guys my donkey story with less mistakes Hahaha. Take care and enjoy your lock down with a small read.

**Small spoiler for the complaints** Also Thank you for your input

I don't plan to add Chaos into this fic only daemons, I wanna limit the story within my capabilities. Adding more shit just makes it confusing for both me and the readers.


	6. Harsh Truths

Chapter 5: Harsh Truths at Shanxi

Outside Capital city of Taiyuan

Stefan Tan was a cargo controller supervisor who enjoyed his daily lifestyle of watching old movies and his simple job before being drafted into service all those weeks ago. Not handsome by any measure and slightly heavy in build, he recalled his optimism to sign up as a pioneer to this colony, a decent salary and being on the frontier of human space sounded good in his head.

Until reports of actual aliens came in blowing up their ships in space then followed by bombardment of military installations and landing their troops. The Turian invasion was frighteningly fast in taking over the outlying settlements and mining towns. Decisive action had to be taken and conscription was enforced with many civilians opposing the forced conscription, citing violations of rights and civil laws. However, martial law was declared bulldozing the dissenting population.

Training was rushed with swift instructions regarding the handling of weapons followed by the chain of command. The days leading to the siege were still nerve wrecking with the anticipation of attack, the arrival of the Titan was a boost to morale but his simple observation at the situation showed that many of his fellow militia had discussed deserting the doomed city. He was tempted to follow them to escape this predicament provided they had a solid plan.

Days before news arrived that the Turians would besiege the city, a plan was conceived with a high chance of success. Making use of the underdeveloped landscape and lack of light for the evening, they were going to make a run for it from the defense line back to the city. Favors were called to secure a ship that would allow them to escape the planet and pass the slumbering Titan back to the safe embrace of the Systems Alliance. It was preferable to risk slipping past the Titan than to wait for a siege that was definitely coming.

Evening was a canvas of darkness and there were very little sources of light stabbing out into the distance. The construction of the defense line was rushed with many makeshift defenses stretched across kilometers of land, thousands of militia were divided into many small groups led by the officers of the garrison with instructions to dig in to avoid any serious damage from orbital bombardment and artillery strikes.

The serving garrison officers' main role however was to supervise the conscripted civilians because there wasn't enough time to train them to use more complex devices such as mines and grenades reliably. General Williams did not publicly announce that the officers were also tasked with preventing desertion.

The weather was getting windy and it would help mask his escape, stashing his essentials in his small bag he was ready to get out before seeing any form of combat. But fate would punish his cowardice with a shower of blood from his mutilated squadmates. A burst of projectiles screamed past him as he dived into cover- War has come to the defenders of Taiyuan.

There was no warning before explosions marked the beginning of battle, the evening sky lit by the explosive ordnance and the glare of the attacker's energy weapons. Running blindly towards the closest friendly uniform, he was immediately told to stick close to the new squad. Now an unwilling participant of a larger war Stefan would be shuffled across the battle until the storm increased in intensity.

Many hours had passed with scenes of gore that would haunt him for the rest of his life. The firefights so far had been far too costly for the defenders, there was an obvious technological gap and it showed on the faces of his fellow squadmates and the confirmed enemy casualties so far could be counted on his two hands. Morale was plummeting with rumours that the Titan had come down and it did not help that he overheard his squad leader's new orders.

"Squad listen up! Command tells me that a pincer movement is on the way from the Turians with promises of peace once these prancing fucks are dealt with and our orders are to push in from our side." announced by the lieutenant as if expecting everyone to simply comply and continue following him to their deaths.

Feeling an opportunity being presented here, he voiced his concerns.

"Sir, we're civilians- you can't expect us to seriously mount an attack on those killers. They're charging us with swords for god's sake and they're winning! - and who's to say those Turians will keep their word?" his heart surging with the hope that others would follow his reasoning.

Others in the squad chimed in their agreement, some stating their worries that the elves belong to the Titan and that they'll never see their families again if they're forced to go with the order.

Pleased that his fellow squadmates took the bait, there was now a growing spread of dissenting voices before a shout from the squad leader put a stop to it by the most insidious way possible.

"Putting aside whether they're from the Titan or not, the main point here is that there's now a chance of peace with the Turians. These new aggressors have shown no attempt at diplomacy and you're right that I can't sugarcoat the truth that this is a good idea but we're not placing all our bets on this so I will only take a single civilian with me to remain as a combat effective squad." staring directly at the firestarter with his last sentence.

Before he could even think of a counter argument, he was happily sacrificed by his fellow citizens and was forced to accompany the remainder of the squad which is now down to half strength due to his witty remark. The only take away from this situation was that the squad of ten including him was only filled with proper soldiers now.

They were only a few hundred meters away and the slow creep towards their objective was met with slaughter as other squads were mercilessly shot dead by weapons fire or cut down in melee. Despite the elves possessing superior firepower, they were still jumping at them with their swords and spears, they were making a push with their lives just to show the Turians that they were committed to a truce and coupled with the worrying change in weather the squad was stressed to the breaking point.

The sun was rising to display the clouds and the terrible landscape. The iron rich sand was a deeper shade of red from spilt blood and the elven host was now clearly visible with close to a thousand of them scattered in many small groups across the many rocks of this arid plain.

The remainder of the squad were hiding behind a large boulder, they were content to sit there because they had reached their assigned coordinates and there was no way in hell they would survive breaking cover in clear view of the elves.

"What the fuck is up with this weather?" the lieutenant looking towards the clouds and arcs of lightning.

Stefan felt dread creeping up his spine enough to the point that he finally spoke again after the squad meeting.

"Sir.. this storm isn't natural, i think -."

"Shut the fuck up! I've been watching you Stefan, and don't think for a second that I have not noticed your slit little eyes looking for an escape. We are holding our ground until command tells us otherwise and if I see you flee in my presence. I. Will. Shoot. You." emphasized the sergeant by turning the safety off.

Grinding his teeth to hold his anger back, he regretted his panicked decision to stick with the military man. But in his haste to get away from the murderous elves, his decision to join this squad for safety in numbers was now going to cost him especially now that there was barely a functioning squad left after suffering an additional four casualties.

He could hear gunfire from behind their boulder, his squad leader was reporting the situation before asking him to peek from cover. Seeing that his weapon's safety was still off, he knew better than to defy his orders now and to his great surprise, a screen of sand was rushing towards the elven positions. The Turians had begun their assault and his squad had received new orders.

Just as he was one of the pioneers for the planet, when the squad broke cover to move towards the center they were also the first living humans to arrive to witness the birth of the portal up close. The Turians announced their presence by firing wildly into the retreating elves, catching a handful on the back before they stopped to see an impossible sight.

Blood and gore painted the landscape then an impossible scene greeted them when gravity forgot its function with rocks floating and blood dripping upwards into the morning sky. A single body caught everyone's attention with violent arcs of supernatural power emanating from the lone individual.

Reckless Turians and humans doused the figure with ammunition, their instincts flaring at the danger posed by the lone individual. Under the barrage of gunfire, Stefan sees his hated squad leader charging at the elf with his combat knife raised in his vain hope to harm her despite her immunity to bullets. A few other Turians and squadmates followed his example and started running towards the elf.

His reckless bravery was rewarded with a stray bolt of energy, bringing him to his knees. Stefan expected him to burner or turn to dust but the pounding fear in his chest was now a continuous screech with the lieutenant screaming in pain for only a second before his head exploded into bits of gore revealing unnatural tentacles which shot out to everyone nearby, dragging them screaming like some cheap horror flick. The squad leader was not the only monster to have been produced during the charge as there were more monsters created in different forms by both human and Turian victims.

The Turians were quick to follow the elves example and retreated away from the growing epicenter of monsters. Like a pandemic the number of monsters increased with every victim dragged closer to the portal with each of them turning into monsters that defied all evolutionary sense.

Stefan was already a step ahead running with all the energy he had left in him, tears were streaming out of his eyes and he could hear the heavy footfalls of the monster bounding trying to reach him. Though his vision was blurred by his tears, he sees an army marching towards the monsters. Reinforcements - joy was building up in him again.

"SAve M-e!" struggling to spit out every word between each breath.

He was coming to realize the strange shapes of his saviors as he got closer when a sharp blow from the lovecraftian horror catapults him meters into the air and knocks the wind out of him. A sun greets him when he pulls himself off the ground, only to realize a second later that the sun was mounted on the bottom of a robot walker, without pause the sun engulfed him and the creature behind him.

His soul became a delicious morsel in the portal behind him as daemons feasted on him.

O0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0

The first to be summoned were his personal retinue of triarch praetorians followed by two monoliths which began churning out Necron warriors and immortals. No need for more assets as he would not wish to distract the attention of his lord for a minor matter such as this.

Lifeless eyes scanned the field of battle from atop his command barge, taking every detail from the smallest pebble to the speed of the retreating grav vehicles so that nothing is left to chance less he digraces his liege today. The Judicator sets his plans in motion, a master of more than a million battles and the immaterium remains unpredictable, but he has brought more than enough under his command to excise this tumor in reality.

The portal was growing and already exerting its corruptive influence on this plane, the primitives were foolish to think they could take on their ancient enemy and the results were predictable followed by exposure to the energies of the immaterium and allowing them a better grip on this reality. Chaos must be met with Order and the Judicator commanded his army neatly into formation before another disgraceful being caught his eye.

A misshapen creature was chasing a screaming unhealthy human specimen towards his triarch stalkers, Unhealthy?- unconsciously his mind compares the unsightly thing to the superior being that his liege conversed with back in their galaxy. Putting useless thoughts aside in less than a tenth of a second he initiated Annihilation protocols, the Necron lord would spare nothing to cleanse the area and the heat rays of his spearheading triarch stalkers torched anything that came their way.

The infernal portal was powered by the corpse of the witch's soul stone. His primary objective was clear with his troops arrayed in formation and mowing down the creatures. Patience was required despite his desire to wet his scythe, combat was far in between the many thousands of years and he would not miss this opportunity if he had not predicted the most likely scenario to occur in the near future. No need for a chronomancer to point out the obvious.

Joy welled in his metal heart knowing that he would still be able to taste combat again.

O0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0

The sky was dyed red with the coming sunlight and its crimson glow showering the land in a bloody tone. It did not help that the things outside his city were scarier now with the sun rising, their features now clearly visible to the naked eye. The color only helped to magnify the dread even though there is a logical explanation for the phenomenon. But their baser instincts of fear denied them their cognitive functions to even understand this simple truth.

General Williams was no stranger to war, but the scene before him was biblical with chaotic demons against the ordered march of the machines. Some of his men in the tower were clasping their hands in prayer. Religious chants and hymns could be heard in the tower and across the com channels.

"Orders?" whispered someone taking his eyes away from the total carnage outside to see his captain holding his fear in check.

Time slowed to a crawl for that moment, Williams could see desperation in his captain's eyes trying to make sense of the reality in front of him between the bright flashes of destruction dealt by the robots. A miniature sun materialised every time the floating pyramid voiced its high pitched cry, vaporising large swathes of demons. Reports had reached him that they were indiscriminate in dealing death to whatever was in their way to the portal, men and women were vaporised with reports described to him as martian death rays.

But it was having a minimal effect on the many thousands pouring out from the portal every second. The demons were horrifying to behold, a mass of teeth,claws and limbs, they came in so many different sizes, the smallest he could see was the height of a small child all the way to the hulking brutes the size of tanks.

Despite the terrible casualties inflicted on the demons, they prioritized on the living with very few of them bothering to assault the robots. The obvious vigour the demons displayed in chasing fleeing humans and turians compared to those who stood bravely against them triggered a revelation in the General. Holding his scope to view the elves reinforced his hypothesis, the swarm of demons were focusing on them despite the close proximity of the elves.

Fear was attracting them and the weak discipline of his conscripted militia was beginning to bite him back. The demons were frantic as they got closer to the city, obviously sensing more fear from the civilians within. There was nothing he could do to shut off the fear in the hearts of his men and people, the sounds of battle were carrying over into the city and frightening them in their shelters. Especially since there were miniature nukes going off every time the pyramid fired it's main weapon.

There was no words of encouragement that would work here, he can already picture the massacre once they broke through the defenses and poured into the city.

Walking towards the mic, the words were clear in his mind now. A heroic speech was not enough to spur his men back into the fight. Threatening them is the only way he could think of now and he was short on time because men were abandoning the forward defenses already. Holding the mic tightly in his hand, he shouted loud enough that even the staff in the observation tower were startled back to normal.

"NOT ONE STEP BACK!" his voice booming across the city. The cowards continued running, those who stopped to listen were his intended audience.

"Do not retreat! Think men! Think for a second that if you fail now, you risk your loved ones to those monsters. Stand your ground and fight!" pointing out an obvious truth to his soldiers. He knew that fear was not making them think straight and they needed a reminder.

Immediately there was an effect, his men were not mass routing like a bunch of headless chickens with close to half of them moving back to the defenses. He did not expect his speech to rouse every single one, those speeches are reserved for better men than him and he was grateful for the many that remained to fight.

Now all that was left was to lead by example, the fight beyond the city was not his concern at the moment. It was clear that the factions outside the wall were no longer interested in them except the demons, he would ask the observation staff for frequent reports on their activities and nothing more. No man can worry for every eventuality and his primary concern now is to safeguard his people from the ravaging monsters charging his lines.

While he was walking towards the armory, his loyal captain had regained enough of his spirit to join him when he ran to catch up with him. A smile crossed his lips to greet the captain.

"Done dreaming captain?" in a cheery tone.

"Not sure I am sir, cause I think I'm still having a nightmare." he replied.

"Are you prepared then?" the general shifted to a more serious tone.

"Yes sir, prepared enough to fight for both our shares cause I know that you've never used a weapon for years." said the captain in a mocking tone.

The smile returned as the captain double checked their gear and ordered a squad to accompany them to the front lines.

A funny thought came to mind as he boarded the APC. The irony of it pushed his fears to the back of his mind.

The path to hell is paved with good intentions.

O0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0

Ground Zero

The young turian had a moment of bliss when they spearheaded into enemy lines only for it to come crashing down with the doorway to hell. Cursing his decision that led them into this death trap, nothing has gone right for them in this system and the arrival of the Titan's army confirmed everyone's fear that they have angered a technological superior foe.

The loud bangs and whistling of mass accelerator rounds was deafening in between the more ear shattering explosions coming from the floating structures. A precious whisper pulled him away from the turret view screen.

"Water…"

"General!" rushing to her side with the medic providing her fluids.

There was a visible improvement to her condition after his weak attempt at surgery, especially since his surgical procedure was to use his personal combat blade to take her arm off. It was a difficult choice against the advice of the medic because of the hard plates on a turian.

Looking at her missing limb, various emotions crossed her features ranging from sadness, regret and finally a surge of pride.

"Boy, update me on the situation." her informal speech catching Saren off-guard.

"Well? Don't keep me waiting."

"Yes! I took command after you were wounded in action and I -"

"Hold! You took command?" she stood up abruptly to walk to the APC's console before her legs gave out like jello.

"Is Colonel Rigas alive? Or any of the majors? Heck, I will even take any of my captains" asking for alternatives instead of her assistant.

"I took it upon myself to lead the remainder of the 22nd to escort you to safety. It was a decapitating strike to our command structure, there are barely any officers left alive to -."

"Answers! ARE any of my captains or majors alive Saren? The military taught- No I taught you better than to beat around the bush. I need-."

A seizure stopped her mid sentence as the medic struggled to stabilize and hold her down. Clearly she was not well enough to take command.

Leaving her on the APC, Saren Arterius and the remaining Turians were in the thick of it, pouring mass accelerator rounds into the monsters with minimal effect. The smaller creatures were manageable with their small arms but the larger creatures were soaking shots and they were running low on ammunition.

Retreating away from the eye of the storm as cleanly as they did was a blessing and he was to give thanks to the Spirits when the day is over. His religious side grew but his other faith was shaken, his long held belief of Turian military supremacy was now wavering from the scenes witnessed today.

A lot of his men were starting to be religious, the Spirits were thrown everywhere for things they do not understand. Some of the creatures were previously turians, they were unfortunately close to the portal when it first manifested turning them into armored demons with terrible looking claws. Fighting their former comrades in arms was the last straw for some of them, their nerves snapped from the piled up stress. Giving up, they died quickly with the monsters devouring them immediately as missiles streaked over his head to blow the abominations to pieces.

"Saren, we're out of ML-77s" reported a sergeant who used his name directly as a way of showing displeasure at his recent decisions. Young Arterius ignored it, there were more pressing concerns than disciplining the sergeant in the heat of battle.

"I'll tell the teams to conserve our cannon rounds and it's not looking good, we're running low on thermal clips." another sergeant reports.

His mind traveled back in time to the sagely advice given by Orinia. The words crossing his mind and cutting deeper wounds in his regret.

"Your results have given you a headstart, Saren, but the burden of command is more than theory and confidence. You will learn that the Hierachy's system of enabling young turians to rise this fast comes with its flaws." recalling the words Orinia said to him.

It all leads back to experience, thinking of that conversation many months ago. With no more time for regret, he replied.

"Fall back towards the human city, let the humans take the heat away from us." The monsters were more interested with flesh and bone than the Titan's army. The bulk of the monsters were more interested in both the pale skin species more than the Turians and he would gladly sacrifice both of them to the demonic horde than let another Turian die.

The portal was getting larger and the rows of the robotic legion were not killing them fast enough, their weapons glowing green and spitting out lightning that removed the flesh of the monsters. They were relentless in their march towards the portal, losses were ignored and even those that fell were picking themselves up to repair themselves with one of them standing out when it tore itself out of a monster to reattach its bottom and upper halves.

There was an easy conclusion to draw from Triarch's actions, this was not the first time they have dealt with the portal. They were concentrating the bulk of their firepower on the entrance, beams of pure light that tore open holes in the cliffside passing through the portal without visible effect. The weapons were so destructive that he was beginning to doubt if the Council and his beloved Hierarchy's military could contest these newcomers.

A small ball of light revealed that they were shooting at an individual or what was left of her as her head lolled loosely to the side. A bubble of pure energy was protecting her from anything the synthetic army could throw at her.

The situation was looking bleak with thousands of the creatures now charging across the battlefield with only the Titan's soldiers presenting a proper line of resistance against the demons. The humans were fleeing in terror back towards their city attracting even more of the monsters.

A familiar voice announced itself from the city and he recognized the general's effort to rally his men. The general's announcement also signaled the start for the Triarch to make its move.

In a series of precise bombardments from the floating structures, there was a gap in the horde of demons that instantly saw many of the floating Triarch rush in from above followed by the sudden appearance of more robotic entities close to the portal.

They wielded unique weapons just like the beautiful humanlike monsters that attacked them. But they glowed green and their warriors hauntingly emotionless as they cut a path towards their objective.

The battle was reaching its climax and he ordered every Turian to record the events closely to make sure that they could study the Triarch and perhaps prepare countermeasures against them in the near future.

This would turn into a lesson of humility for the Turian military in the near future.

O0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0

The fun was over, vacation was over for the eldar. Behind a large rocky outcrop was Morduin and the remainder of his band, if not for the sounds of battle blasting full volume in all directions. His rage was as explosive as the impacts of the Necron monoliths, shouting and swinging in sword in anger in all directions to vent his fury.

"Warlock! Explain to me again why your mongrel used her powers to reveal our location?" trying to calm himself down from the meltdown of the situation.

It was planned to be a quick tour of the planet and leaving before the Necrons would even know they were there. Instead they were revealed by the unneeded use of her powers, which threatened his rage to surge up again.

"Morduin, I assure you she was trained enough that she did not lose control. There is something wrong with the Aether which affected our state of mind previously." trying to deflect the ire of his captain.

"Then explain THIS!" pointing at the eye of the storm.

"The Sea of Souls is now polluted with so much, it's impossible to give you a clear answer now as to why this has happened."

"But there was no occurrence of this phenomena on the Amilya? Surely your seers have employed greater use of your abilities during our long voyage."

"We have noted a disturbance in the sea roughly a millenia ago, those of us who were awake at the time felt it touched our souls. If not for the wards placed on the ship, we suspect that many of us would have suffered and the use of our gifts on the ship have never caused such an adverse effect before. I propose that outside the Amilya we must practice more caution and re-study the sea for the cause of this phenomenon."

"Study? There is no returning from this, we are detected and the tombship above our heads is more than capable of catching our vessel. Present your findings to the throneship and prepare for battle."

"I have tried and we are truly cut off from the throneship, the Necrons are employing blackstone to block out and contain the use of our gifts. The only place where we can use our powers is there and if we hold that location long enough we can channel a webway back to the throneship with this." The warlock revealed the webway keystone that has long been useless to them but a portion of their people have always kept them mostly for religious purposes.

"The plan is set then, position yourselves at these points and the moment the Necrons make a move on the portal we strike. I have called for air support and the remainder of the crew here. Leave a skeleton crew on the ship and position it for orbital support. Carry out my orders."

Grav vehicles were ferrying more reinforcements behind the outcrop. The brethren that were left behind previously were called to the frontlines for an all or nothing push against the Necrons. Fear was not present among them, rather looks of indifference were present as death held no sway over them because of their long lives.

Positioning themselves closer to the battle attracted the monsters and they held their positions until further orders were given. The captain was perplexed that the Necrons deployed so little relative to their ship size, but if they were not deployed then it would not matter in a battle that could be decided in an instant.

Air and orbital assets were held in reserve and biding time until the Necrons made their move. There were so many factors to consider and the lack of any Necron fast assets such as destroyers were worrying to him. But a quick decisive strike now would allow him to destroy their heavy constructs now and he was confident in the speed of his fighters and tanks.

Following the captain's expectations, the Necrons made a move on the portal with their elite shock troops. Recognizing the praetorians flying above and the Lychguard teleporting close to the portal accompanying the command barge in the middle of the formation, he knew that now was the time to strike.

At his signal, the Phoenix fighter-bombers escorted by Nightwings surged ahead to strike at the monoliths and other key targets. Followed closely behind were the grav vehicles carrying his hand picked elites striking deep into hordes of daemons to confront the Necron lord.

The many other foot troops who were not selected by the captain were ordered to maintain an escape route for Morduin and his elites.

The sudden appearance of Night Scythes immediately made it difficult for the eldar to deliver their payloads on the monoliths and a dogfight ensued with both sides engaging at supersonic speeds. The atmosphere cracks with sound barriers breaking at sudden twists and turns of the engaging flyers. The monoliths were disabled at the cost of three bombers making a beeline towards them which saw them disintegrated by the Necrons but allowed the grav tanks to move in almost unmolested by the Necrons.

The quick strike wreaked a toll on the Necron elite, disassembling a few of them with accurate laser fire. Morduin smiled with his advantage of armored support near the portal, which was allowing them to pin the Necrons behind their dispersion shields and he knew better than to continue firing onto their formation and risk losses from deflected shots. His warriors tasting blood in the water made a charge towards the Necrons, eager to cross blades with the elite warriors of the Necrons. The lychguard proved difficult to bring down with each of them built almost as tough as grav tanks, only those with two handed power weapons or armed with hand held anti tank weapons had any hope of reliably disabling them.

Personally joining the melee, he had set his eyes on personally taking the head of the lord. Beautiful necrodermis decorated the bodyguard of the lord and he alone took down two of them with strong swings of his blade before he was face to face with the figure atop the barge. The pressure he exuded was making his heart race with fear, terror would have paralyzed him if he was not already prepared to face his death.

"State your name Eldar."

"My name does not matter. DIE!" lunging at the Necron before he could prepare his stance.

A small green glow was all he hit with his blade, quickly turning around expecting a counter blow and he was puzzled that the lord had teleported out of his command barge.

"Do you not adhere to the rules of battle? Then you are right, it does not matter." the Necron's tone was heavy with disappointment.

Rushing out to face the Necron lord again, he paused when the metallic lord struck the pommel of his scythe on the ground. His momentary high of superiority went as fast as it came when he realized the trap he had landed himself in.

Half a dozen figures emerged out of nowhere, each of them distinct in their ceremonial garbs. However, there was no mistaking that they were all lords and the gravity of the situation hit him with the force of a blackhole knowing that he was facing a Necron overlord and he was now in the middle of his court.

He laughed at his hubris for thinking that there was a chance in this battle. But there was still one last card to play.

"I am Morduin of Amilya and I demand a duel with the lord of this court!"

O0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0

Presumptuous was the word that surfaced at the forefront of his thoughts when the upstart made his declaration. The surge of emotions was enough to actually halt most of his mental processes for almost a second.

Anger, amazement, disappointment and disgust mainly but there was so much emotional data that he had not experienced for millennia that it threw his mind off guard.

This Morduin had actually forfeited his right to be heard when he failed to address himself, only choosing to do so now when he is cornered by his court was both disrespectful and dishonourable conduct that could see him executed without needing to hear his plea.

The Eldar are no longer a concern when his Lords revealed the hidden forces from their Veil of Darkness that proceeded to turn the tide of battle. Destroyers were countering the grav vehicles and a resurrection orb had recovered the losses suffered so far. He had tasked his Lords to gather prisoners for information and the fool can wait.

There were more important matters to attend to before he can indulge in personal delights. Turning to face the witch he will not be distracted from his main objective.

He took measured steps towards the source with his senses taking in every detail from his surroundings careful to notice any shift in response to his presence. His mind's computational processes were in overdrive to account for the changing environment, from the absence of wind, changes in temperature and the condition of the still body of the cursed one. His assessment that the witch was no longer a threat proved to be an error when she conjured lightning out of her hands. Her damaged neural system was seemingly undone.

A single swing from his scythe was all that was needed to untether the immaterium from this realm. Delivering an overhead strike, there was no turning back and it prompted him to activate his chronometron to minimise the damage by giving him the time needed to act and against all logic known to him, her corpse moved in tandem with him in his flow of time.

Time was not flowing properly due to the rift and now he would pay the price, shifting his necrodermis to harden itself in preparation. His body was facing a multitude of reactions from the lightning blast from the emitted from the corpse, ranging from transmutation into other elements, burns and growth of organic compounds. There was no logical explanation to it all but brushing aside useless thoughts, only the surface of his armored necrodermis was affected by the effects of the infinite sea and his strike continued its course towards the jewel.

Despite the damage to the nervous system of the Eldar corpse, her lifeless body brought her staff up to receive his blow. It proved as useless as placing a branch to stop a tank, her arm shattered under the crushing strength of his metal frame splintering the gem into atoms as it screamed with otherworldly energy.

The portal's size was instantly cut in half before blinking out of existence, the creatures became powerless and now faced the strain of reality denying their presence and faced annihilation in their weakened state.

Turning around again to face the upstart, barely seconds had passed in real time due to time dilation.

"Jester" the word best describes him.

"What?"

The creature is deaf as well. He wondered what happened to the being that managed to cut down his guards. It was as if there were two separate entities possessing his body.

"As the reigning authority on this planet. I accept your trial by combat to waive your insult. Present your agent or will you represent yourself?" throwing a lifeline in hopes of a better combatant.

Drawing his blade immediately was the first redeeming quality the Judicator respected. Confidence is good and it raised his hopes for the duel.

One of his Lords teleported close by to act as a witness. The battle was being concluded with cleansing sweeps of the battlefield as both demons and Eldar were being defeated soundly by the remaining lords.

His mind already projected his next moves and true to predictions the jester started off with a haywire pistol shot that struck him in the right shoulder, locking up his right arm and followed up with a decapitating swing from his sword.

Quickly bringing his left arm up, the sword was lodged deep into his forearm till it was almost severed. A good weapon he thought to have damaged him this badly, his body already repaired the fried circuits in his right arm to allow motion.

Too close for his blade, his attempt at bashing his face in with his haft failed with an easy dodge from his opponent. But space was created and now his left arm is allowed time to repair itself.

In an almost shocking display of speed, the Eldar managed to close the distance instantly to take another swing at him and with his chronometron used. He was forced to weather the many quick cuts of his opponents blade, while parrying the more deadly strokes.

His left arm was finally ready and with the final expenditure of his patience, he pointed his wrist mounted weapon and fired. The cretin's legs from below the knees turned to mist and the projectile continued into the ground for hundreds of meters before stopping.

There was a blessing to his immortal body, there was no true heartache or distress at moments like these, only data simulating emotions which can be cast aside and now with the screaming man mouthing off every curse known to him, he was thankful that he can shut him off as easily as flipping a switch.

"Kill me necrontyr, you have won this battle but you will lose the war." chuckling to himself.

"No."

"No? HaHAha! You have no clue and you have the confidence to say no?" propping himself onto a nearby rock

"No, because I know a fundamental truth."

"Oh? Then tell me what you've learned then."

"There was never peace among the stars, be it the past, the present or the far future, only an eternity of carnage and war. If your people are as incapable as you are to understand this simple truth then I fail to see our defeat in any scenario."

"We shall see who has the last laugh, so reap your reward now and be done with it. Your kind have never been known to hold a proper conversation."

The Eldar taps a button on his arm, a small detail that was so significant yet missed by his mechanical mind. The heavens light up brighter than the rays of the sun, the brightlance that was meant to arrive was instead the destruction of the Eldar frigate by the Imperishable.

Anger flared at both himself and the Eldar for a split second, grabbing him by the throat and almost crushing it before a most familiar sight stopped him.

A throne crackling with power and the figure atop it was fashioned with the crown of the Necron empire. The guilt of troubling his lord hit him harder than anything in the past hour as he knelt humbly to his approaching lord.

The Eldar was stunned as well by the new guest, portals were opening across the battlefield pouring thousands of Necron subjects on the field. Realization hits him again but there was nothing he could do to warn his people of the figure atop the throne.

"Kneel before mighty Szarekh, Last and Greatest of the Silent Kings." resuming his duties to introduce his Lord.

* * *

Codex

(There will be copy pasta from the wiki to give readers not used to Warhammer a simple summary of the items and weapons)

Forgive me if you guys don't like it and I will remove it if you guys don't want this section in the future. Tell me in the reviews or I will continue to update this as I add in more stuff. Feel free to ask me questions in the review too because i think my lore on Warhammer is kinda ok.

Also for the purpose of keeping this story consistent, i'll be arming all Eldar with Wraithbone armor, they're prefall Eldar. So i hope i can use that as my excuse.

Eldar

Haywire Weapons

These weapons fire powerful electromagnetic blasts that disable enemy vehicles and control systems.

Phoenix

A ground attack fighter. While it shares many features in common with its smaller cousin, the Nightwing, the Pheonix sacrifices a measure of speed and maneuverability in order to carry a large weapons payload for ground attack missions. The two work in tandem, Nightwings clearing the skies of enemy aircraft and escorting Phoenixes as they rain destruction upon ground forces.

Nightwings

An exceptional fighter-interceptor with firepower and sophisticated energy field protection, capable of performing maneuvers which would send lesser craft in an uncontrollable plummet and achieve speeds which would tear them apart.

Necrons

Triarch Stalkers

A form of hexapedal combat walker utilised by Necron Triarch Praetorians in battle. Like an enormous mechanical spider, a Triarch Stalker looms over the battlefield with its multiple slicing limbs and devastating weaponry. Triarch Stalkers are often piloted by a high-ranking Triarch Praetorian and are primarily employed against enemy heavy armour and to provide close fire support to other Necron units.

Lychguard

They are the elite protectors and emissaries of the Necron nobility. In order to serve as a bulwark against those who would harm their charges, Lychguard were gifted with the highest quality living metal necrodermis bodies, equal in resilience and power to those inhabited by the Necron Lords and Overlords they protect.

Catacomb Command Barge

Catacomb Command Barges serve solely as conveyors for Necron nobility, particularly those with a propensity for melee combat. Catacomb Command Barges are far swifter than Annihilation Barges, so that the barge's master might be conducted to wherever he is most needed, and to ensure that no foes escape their intended fate. It is a near-universal truth that the nobility of every thinking race seek to showcase their status, and the Necrons are no exception.

Destroyers

Necrons fused to floating chassis which serve as heavy weapons platforms. Essentially a modified Immortal, Deathmark, or Lychguard who have given up their physical forms in pursuit of destruction, these deranged agents of annihilation see their sole existence as quenching the flames of life. A Destroyer cares not for borders of allegiance, considering all forms of organic life to be its prey.

Veil of Darkness

A device of Necron techno-sorcery that can summon dark energies which twist and billow about the bearer like a ghostly cloak blown by an ethereal breeze; almost akin to a billowing sheet of tangible shadow that envelops the bearer and his allies. When the darkness ebbs, the enshrouded bearer and those Necrons nearby will have disappeared, only to rematerialise mysteriously some distance away on the battlefield later. This allows the bearer of a Veil of Darkness to swiftly redeploy himself and his fellow Necrons into unexpected positions from which to better destroy the enemy, a tactical advantage that few others can afford.

Chronometron

An arcane eye-shaped device that manipulates time in a way that only the Necrons and their technological mastery over space-time can achieve. The bearer of a Chronometron can activate the device to allow him and his unit to exist slightly outside and act out of phase with the natural flow of the space-time continuum.

Resurrection Orb

A piece of equipment used by Necrons. It can only be taken by Necron Lords. The Lord operates it with a gesture and the scattered remains of destroyed Necrons pull themselves together and return to the battle.

Tachyon Arrows

Wrist-mounted energy weapons used by Necrons. When activated, it transmutes a sliver of inert metal into an unstoppable thunderbolt capable of piercing a mountain.

* * *

RANT TIME

First I feel like i need to apologize to those of you expecting regular updates. Coz i usually write in between the turns of my turn based strategy games. But now i am playing an MMO, which really really delayed this chapter's release. For those of you who are curious its conquerors blade as for my turn based games its either battletech or total war.

Now i hope this chapter was also good enough for the long wait and i will try to not delay too much because i myself hate waiting for a lot of other fanfics and i feel like a hypocrite. But of course we're all free individuals and we're free to post whenever we want to, BUT i still feel bad.

Also with the release of 9th edition, I now have the POWAH to get more juicy details and make my necrons feel more alive than boring silent guy and obeying sidekick. Truth be told I wrote this fic with very bad intentions in the beginning and would have an easier time writing about custodes or marines or anything ALIVE with less ROBOTIC characteristics. But i am determined to see this fic to its end with the vision i have for it and maybe just maybe start on more sexy stories with starcraft or something.

As usual i welcome constructive criticism and i know i ain't some super good writer and my grammar isn't the best either. You can point them out so i can learn better and help improve this fic in da future. Any lore breaking shit can also be pointed out because i love the lore and i don't wanna be wrong but remember that some of shit may be self created by me coz this is a FANFIC.

Lastly, stay safe everyone.


	7. Time

Chapter 6: Time

Outside Capital city of Taiyuan

A command to kneel signaled the end of the battle, thousands of machines poured out of the many portals and hell submitted to the robotic legions. No desperate act of heroism was demanded from the living, no great sacrifice required to close the gate of hell. Only cold emotionless soldiers that marched themselves against the demons until it was done.

The surrounding scenery was shifting again, this time with a greenish tinge coming from their new guest. The landscape was being molded like clay with swarms of little scarab like robots dismantling the dead elves and the wrecks of their vehicles. There was a greater variety of the mechanical beings now and they bore a great resemblance to the Egyptians of old with golden ornaments and a select few were wearing what looked like a wesekh.

Pylons were erected in minutes and the elves were being escorted away to the portals like mindless drones as if all will was stripped away from them. The thought did cross his mind, the irony was rich that the beautiful elves were the villains today. No orcs or goblins or even a dark sorcerer to blame. The elves were humbled now and his first impressions of this mythological race are ruined forever.

The great writings of J. R. R Tolkien promised too much to his young self and he prayed to God that these were just deviants like dark elves and that there were better nobler elves. However, there are more pressing concerns now. He was certain of his position for the next few moments, they were definitely in a disadvantageous position to negotiate anything from these visitors. He was already being hailed by the brightest men and women of the planet. Each of them pleading their suggestions to negotiate for technology, alliances or even vassalage. He was not going to entertain their ideas, he knew that no one in a position of power would entertain any deal with lesser and weaker nations, history has proven that time and time again and today would prove no different.

Stupid ideas flew through his head, from trespassing and invasion. Holy fuck there was nothing to work with, the best he could do was thank them and pray they leave in peace, heck he may even throw a tribute of resources to let the murder robots be on their way. Not to mention the obvious hostility the Turians were showing and their previous talks of peace. It was going to be a tightrope of negotiations and he was not looking forward to it.

The regal overlord of the robotic legions stood majestically and stood out more compared to its lesser subjects who were hunched and adorned with less. But he was still mostly plain when compared to the bright colored space elves if not for his cape which dazzled with captured starlight. Rich colors were reserved for the upper class in the past but now it seemed the roles were reversed with a polished metal lord standing triumphant over his colorful subjects. Terrible screams could be heard and in the distance where there were crimes against the geneva convention if only they heard of it. It was difficult to stomach the scenes of elves getting vaporised, their stubbornness to obey the decree of the Silent King was their undoing.

Standing at the frontlines, there was a small moral voice pushing him to voice out against the inhumane treatment of the elven prisoners but who was he to force his morals onto others, especially those not even of his own race. The machines were barely a few hundred meters in front of him when the voice came again to every device capable of outputting audio, spoken clearly in English and Turian.

YOU ARE IN THE PRESENCE OF THE SILENT KING! KNEEL! OR BE DESTROYED!

Guns were aimed and there was a visible build up of energy in their weapons to prove they were about to open fire. Fear blossomed in his gut with what was about to happen.

"Everyone kneel!" knees touched the floor with different forms of kneeling. Some prostrated with their foreheads on the the floor, others went down on one knee, but there were always outliers in society, brilliant examples like the brave heroes that died today to the craven deserters, and to his shame, humanity showcased it's ugliest qualities again with an ignorant idiot on stage.

"You are not my King! Why should we-" the man threaded the fine line between bravery and stupidity right before he was disintegrated by a green beam. No hesitation from the metal man, no pause to receive orders to fire and a demonstration of their disregard for diplomacy. Panic followed with many rising up to defend themselves against their newest enemy, but the general knew it was foolish to think they could measure themselves against the Triarch, but ants would not know better than to bite a lion.

"STAND DOWN!" pleaded the general but it was too late as the situation spiralled out of control with hundreds more uselessly retaliating.

"DON'T GET UP!" seeing more of his subordinates rising to fight back.

Some even tried to kneel back down but it was too late as they were executed even as they knelt. More than a hundred dead in seconds and a similar scene played out for the Turians who also suffered for their pride, many refusing to submit and dying for it.

"Sir, give the order and we will blow these fuckers to bits." said the captain with a mix of vengeful anger and injured pride.

"No" exhaustion was catching up to him.

"Look we can still fight, we can make a fighting retreat back to the second line and-"

"and nothing! They will smash right through us followed by the death of every citizen in the city. No, I will not risk it. So shut up."

"They started this for God's sake, is every alien going to force us to bend over? The pencil pushers back home will tear us apart. Your- Our lives are over if we give up without a fight."

"Then what? A pointless death? Let the idiots label me as a coward, now stand down. This is final."

A one eyed machine was approaching the kneeling general while desecrating the dead men along the way with his staff. It stood out from the many standard variants by sporting many more limbs and towering over the others with insectile legs. Strange glyphs floated around the molded play doll of flesh it created and the captain was visibly shaking in anger when it reached them.

"General Williams?" it questioned.

"Yes." he replied in reflex before regretting immediately after because it established his willingness to follow and submit.

"Follow." it said with disinterest as it turned away and continued to study the meatball before pausing when the captain stood to follow.

His heart dropped when he noticed that the robot shot and almost hit him before he deftly jumped away while spraying it with his rifle, the bullets harmlessly bounced and ricocheted off the metal being and it corrected it's aim to deliver a final shot. The exchange stops when he ran between them.

"Stop!" the general held his hands out against both his friend and the killer machine. Realizing that they shot his friend for standing. The fancier one paused in his steps to look back at the general. A second later the machine puts down its weapon and walks away.

Feeling his heart in his stomach, he turned to see the escort rubbing off pieces of a stray bullet from its back. It turned around to reveal the fleshy concoction was gone and that it now painted it's torso with gore. A familiar type of fear penetrated the general, the same fear experienced by toddlers who made an oopsie that would be disciplined by their parents.

"Retainer?" a deep tone snapped him out of his spine tingling horror. The staff was charging up as a clear display of what would happen if he does not vouch for his captain.

A convenient excuse landed right in front of him and he took it. "Yes!" he shouted.

"No more delays. Move."

"Lead the way drone." quipped the captain. Which prompted a reaction from the mechanical being. Expressing itself in a burst of heat and static, the temperature rose high enough to be felt by the two humans and in that instant the blood stains were vaporised from its body before continuing its walk.

The general sent a glare back at his captain. "Are you suicidal?!" almost shouting at his captain before lowering his voice again. He knew his friend always had a penchant for acting before thinking. A double edged quality that has served the captain well so far in the field but it also cost him his marriage.

"Have you ever stopped to ask yourself why your family left you? Your bloody mouth will get us killed and not another word after this. I am sorry to say this my friend but I will shoot you for the greater good." regret came as soon as he said those words. But he had a greater responsibility to the people of this planet.

Hitting a weak point the captain had a brief second of anger before looking down in shame. The general knew his wife was a gem, both of them served in different parts of the military but he knew that she was going up the ranks while his friend was still sore about his choices in life. But enough about his friend, he desperately needed to know their motives for lingering on the planet and if it threatens their survival.

Taking in a sharp breath. He posed a question to their escort.

"Where are you taking us?"

"To- vis- meet my liege." a slight twitch when it struggled with the language. He was thankful for the escort's willingness to respond to his question and there was so much he needed to know. Time to make the most out of this.

"How do I address you? Your King and your people? Are there customs that I need to follow? Can I-" the general shot a hail of questions before shutting himself up to hear their escort speak.

"One at a time human, I am Deshet and the hallowed name of our lord is Szarekh the Silent King. You shall address him as Lord in your tongue and we his people are Necron. As for customs, I will spare you most of the details but you will kneel in his presence and only speak when allowed."

Deshet's words struck a nerve in the captain and he almost lashed out a response if the general had not sent another glare behind him.

"Are we in any danger? My people meant no disrespect when they opposed the idea of kneeling. I'm sure you understand that not everyone would bow to a foreign power and that mercy would reflect on the benevolence of Lord Szarekh." Deshet turned around to look at the resolute eyes of the general. Respect was pouring from the captain and maybe even the Necron if his reaction to turn around could be interpreted as such.

"No, rest assured that my Lord is extremely unlikely to claim your lives. His latest experience with humans has been uplifting for his soul." relief filled him with the throne was now clearly visible to the naked eye and the quality of Necron troops have become more elaborate with grander designs and more unique weapons. Some had swords and ornate glaives coursing with otherworldly power.

Close to them was a pair of Turians, the decorated one was missing an arm and was supported by the other Turian with a defiant look. There were also a large number of injured elves, one was missing both his legs and was held by two Necrons. It was a blessing that the human party was intact for this meeting. Now all that remained was to make sure that his people did not further antagonize the Necrons.

"John, remember to shut up and let me do the talking." a stern whisper to his friend.

Recognizing the key figure of today's battle, he stood before the throne with green bolts of lightning flashed across the throne to highlight the figure he heralded.

KNEEL BEFORE HIS MAJESTY SZAREKH THE SILENT KING

O0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0

There was a grand set of features his body possessed that would put other Necron lords to shame, the ability to process information faster than a Cryptek and crafted with every inch of the finest Necrodermis during his reign. He had designed it himself when that blasted C'tan promised immortality in this new form, anger threatened to rise again when he remembered that golden bastard and his fruitless hunt. To call it a huge mistake would not do it justice and he had severed his supreme authority that allowed absolute control over his people in repentance. But there were some features that were hardcoded into his body one of which still allowed him to monitor his subjects.

He could see that his most loyal subject Ratekh was hiding his injuries, despite Prime's best efforts to mask the damage, Szarekh could see that there were milliseconds delays in his joints and his all seeing eyes could see foreign substances in his Necrodermis and he knew better than to dismiss his loyal subject for minor injuries. Especially since his body is still undergoing repairs and he had prioritized his outward appearance to resume his duties.

Staring down from his throne, he was greeted by a different set of kneeling figures today. A stream of information entered his mind with details on his guests, names, race, and even access to their private comms. The ceremony was still ongoing, listing his titles and boring his guests to death, quite literally with some of them pale from blood loss and the poor Turian was still struggling with poisons in her system.

"_Prime make it short and treat them as guests in my court and ensure the Turian does not expire in my presence."_ Judicator immediately instructed Deshet to examine the Turian without pausing in ceremony and opting to only do the necessary steps to introduce his liege.

The young one moved to draw his sidearm on the approaching Cryptek but he was immediately stopped by the wiser general. Harsh whispers were traded before Deshet forcefully extracted blood samples from the wounded Turian.

"Do not move." he warned before vanishing in a flash before appearing again with the antidote. Clearly he went to fetch the necessary chemicals from his workshop.

General Orinia struggled to crawl in front of her aide, clearly misunderstanding the Cryptek's intentions and she was injected with the cure. The effects were almost immediately visible, colour returned to her features and she no longer stood wobbly. Rejuvenated, she stared dumbly at the Cryptek before turning vigilant again.

The ceremony was going to be tedious so he began to read the information streaming directly into him from the reports of his subjects. A few highlights were noted in the findings extracted from the field. The Eldar were still resisting the mindshackle scarabs but the humans sparked his interest when he noted that they were free from mutations, suppressed was the better word and it was remarkably well done for it to have lasted this long. A pity that the immaterium has been stirred here and now their efforts will be undone.

A few uncomfortable minutes passed before the Judicator marked the end of the ceremony with the Judicator calling out the newcomers in their court.

"Guests of the Silent King's court, promptly introduce yourselves to Lord Szarekh. Starting from you." pointing at the humans and as if every Necron Noble present did not already gleaned the information from their primitive systems.

"General Williams, Human of the Systems Alliance greets Lord Szarekh." giving a slight bow towards the throne.

"General Orinia of the Turian Hierarchy greets the Silent King." standing firm to project her pride.

It was almost endearing, the Turian's pride was no mystery to the Silent King especially after learning of their colorful history. Their participation in the Rebellion, their elevation to full council membership as well as their culture served to reinforce their pride into what they are today. It was amusing witnessing the Judicator pause for a second on how to deal with her.

But there was something at play here besides the Eldar, the chances of three separate races meeting coincidentally in a system millions of light years away from their parent galaxy was so astronomically unlikely that it almost burned his circuits when he attempted to calculate the odds of it happening.

It troubled him greatly that someone was pulling his strings and he was going to make it regret its existence. No one and nothing will ever manipulate him or his people ever again and he was sure that there are answers at the Citadel, even if he has to pry it off the corpse of this new arrogant king. Enough of idle thoughts, time is short and he needed to move as he nodded to the Judicator to warn the humans.

"Your people will be tested in the coming years. The Eldar have contaminated this galaxy with the infinite sea, there will be impure specimens among your kind that will be capable of channelling the raw energies of the infinite sea. Do not be tempted by that realm, heed this warning or doom yourselves to its influence." explained in a foreboding tone.

"There's got to be a better explanation, maybe giving us sample data and observations will be more convincing than this simple warning." the man named John whispered to his general.

"The infinite sea? The portal that was pouring out monsters? and what do you mean impure specimens?" The general face was filled with panicked confusion as he tried to understand the brief statement.

"Yes, that accursed realm is the infinite sea and we do not have the luxury to waste any more time on this planet to answer all your questions. Be grateful that my liege has made time for you." as he turned to look at the Turians.

"You two will be coming with us, we depart now." the young Turian was about to argue before the general spoke again.

"We will follow after I have ensured the safety of my men." giving the best stern expression she could muster towards Ratekh. Commendable if not for the fact that his loyal subject was as stubborn as his Necrodermis. A particle whip exploded in the distance vaporising the vehicle they were last in and killing the few Turians that were near it, another Monolith was prepared to fire before Szarekh raised his hand.

"Stop! We'll do it. Saren, have the men stand down." Orinia instructed Saren to relay her orders as bursts of gunfire could be heard in the distance with Turians firing in retaliation before they stopped. Some in the court were amused with the young one gritting his mandibles in frustration when he relayed orders.

"My King notes that the discipline of your army is praiseworthy, disrespect to his noble court is usually met with harsher consequences. Now move." gesturing towards the portal.

The human general showed mercy shortly after. "General! I will ensure your people are treated fairly. Thank god they're leaving" he shouted to the Turian general before whispering the latter to himself.

Many among the Necron nobility looked to the stars, seeing something they could not. Curiosity was eating at him before he started asking for answers from his team. More humans just entered through the relay and the Silent King could already see the delays and the actions he would be forced to make if they made the same mistakes the Turians did.

Clarity came to the human general a few minutes later and it only took him seconds of talking into his comms before running towards the leaving procession. His body was experiencing another surge of adrenaline. Fear was driving him now.

"Please wait! Let me talk to them! I just need a few minutes. Please." his pupils were shaking, his heart beating hard because he knew the possible consequences if the fleet moved against the Necrons.

The royal wardens were poised to fire on him before Ratekh waved his hand to stop them.

"No. To do so would damage the dignity of the Silent King." It was like waiting on insects if they barred your path and Szarekh's gravitas could not allow it for the decision was made and he will not go back on it.

O0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0

Admiral Kastanie Drescher of the 2nd fleet made the trip to the bridge and she could see the crew manning their stations in preparation for the battle to come. News of the Turians attacking Shanxi had spread to every part of the Alliance in a matter of days and but there was no military response because of all the bureaucratic red tape. Stupid discussions of proper first contact packages to restart peace talks and the worst idea to come out of some stupid politician was to surrender Shanxi.

She was a career woman, dedicated to her job for many years and it was beginning to show on her features. It was only months ago that she celebrated her 60th birthday when news reached her of the incident at Shanxi. A woman of rules and regulations but even her tolerance was running low with each passing day their deployment was delayed. Her fleet was already prepped and refitted with the best the Alliance had to offer. With her own cruiser receiving enough to blow any city to dust.

It took more than a month before the fleet was finally given the go ahead to relieve Shanxi. Previous surveillance reports from the fleeing vessel suggested a few capital size vessels and a lot of support ships. Too many for the 2nd fleet alone but they were now combined with ships from the other fleets with her as acting commander to break the siege. Close to a hundred vessels consisting of makeshift carriers and other light vessels. The Turian dreadnought was a concern but everything else was planned with extreme detail, with contingencies against enemy reinforcements, superior technology, routing captains and so on.

They had scouted again half a day earlier with a few frigates and observed that the Turians were buzzing around the debris of the obsidian green ship in the last report, barely a reaction as they took defensive positions before the scout team retreated back with the information and their lives. But sometimes there are situations where every effort or plan is thrown into the trash bin. Moving into the system with confidence befitting a veteran of many wars, she was sure that they could break the siege in time for an evacuation for the small colony. But instead what greeted her was the void, space debris, floating corpses and a titan of a vessel orbiting the planet.

"Fleet status report and update me on what we are dealing with." there was non-stop activity on the bridge as the fleet moved into position.

"Designs on the vessel bears a resemblance to the unidentified vessel "Dark knight" that was in-system at the time of the incident. But obviously much larger and scans are not revealing heat signatures or material composition of the vessel."

"Preliminary scans also indicate surrounding debris belongs to Turian vessels and the capital is mostly intact but abandoned. Dissipation of radiation shows that battle was recent." eyes sparkled on the deck and morale rose with news of their new dark knight who single handedly broke the siege for them.

There was also skepticism on how there were two separate races during that incident. Some conspiracy theories even suspect that the dark knights were the intended target and that we were simply caught in the crossfire between two warring alien races. The academics were debating back and forth on the many possibilities.

A stupid name for the unknowns but it stuck because of its obsidian colour and it became especially evident with the sun reflecting light off the planet and projecting the massive vessel onto screen. She was on a time limit for Shanxi, any delays will give the Turians an opportunity to pincer them between the unknown giant and their only way out.

"Raise them on comms and send out first contact package. Anything from the surface?" staring at her comms officer.

"Nothing on comms admiral, the vessel is directly above the city and together with the field of debris. Nothing is getting through. We need to move closer for a chance at communicating with the surface."

That was an uncomfortable suggestion. To move closer to that giant without any clue on its intent was a gamble she was not willing to take. Progress on communicating with the giant was still ongoing and there was no visible progress. Nothing was getting through to it, almost as if it was outright ignoring them.

"Order captain Ahab to move in close enough for direct comms with the planet. Start hailing on all frequencies if you have to and give me firing solutions on that ship. Do not directly aim at it and make sure to keep weapons ready." not standard procedure but the sooner she could get any info from the inhabitants the sooner she can act.

Seconds turned to minutes and finally minutes into an hour before the reports came in. Starting from the Turian siege until the recent massacre by the Necrons. It did not take even a minute for the weapons to be aimed and her mind drifting to the authority she was given to unleash WMDs on their enemies. There was debate on their usage but it was drowned under the voices of the masses who were more than happy to unite against the common enemy.

Another alien with human blood on their hands. It was easy to give the order and there was no treaty to stop them from blasting them back to the stone age.

"Arm the warheads and move the fleet into position." her cruiser was one of many that was holding onto megaton powered weapons. She was certain that even a vessel that large would not be able to withstand the power of their nukes and that they're ignoring her. But she'll give it one last chance.

"Broadcast this message on all known channels." as she leaned forward to speak. It was highly unlikely that any space faring race does not use any of these channels.

"Necron you are surrounded and will be held accountable for the human lives you have taken. Respond immediately or you will be fired upon as an enemy of the Systems Alliance." the seconds wasted away until the alien vessel moved and shocked the fleet into action.

"Fire on my command! Comms, any hint of a reply from our new alien?"

"None admiral but we have a priority message from General Williams." she instantly recognized the name. Garrison commander, veteran, and a few other points that were in briefing.

"Put him on speakers." banking on the chance that he had good intel on their new alien enemies and instead a panicked voice greeted her. It made her doubt if it was the general on the line. Another look at the clearance codes confirmed it.

"Admiral, do not engage and let them leave. You will have to trust me on this." with everyone on the bridge doubting their ears and some of them were staring at the admiral with confused looks.

"Reconfirm the codes and -" as she was about to hang up on him.

"Wait, the Necrons are definitely a more technologically advanced race than us! You will bring a shitstorm onto the Alliance." grabbing her attention again. The Necron vessel is now close to optimal firing range. A bunch of green lights indicate the fleets readiness and firing solutions. It was only a matter of time now.

"General, your concern for our lives is noted. Now FIRE!" tubes opened with the first wave of warheads sailing through the void to deliver death. With a vessel that large it would take a miracle to survive the next few minutes and even with a blanket of point defense batteries trying to hit something as small as a missile in an area thousands of kilometers wide would be near impossible. Like finding needles in a haystack but it would only take one confirmed hit for even a ship of that size to suffer catastrophic damage.

"Have the boarding teams suit up, I expect multiple hull breaches and I want information out of that wreck once the radiation clears." her confidence was infectious enough to bring the best out of her subordinates. Everyone except the one man staring disbelievingly at his screen before shouting to get her attention.

"Admiral! you have to see this." delivering the information to her display.

"Recheck your instruments." Heat buildup in any vessel is easy to explain since ships needed power sources and power sources generated heat. But the readings here were impossible.

"I've checked everything over twice and the technicians have reported back that the sensors are good." there are very few things a ship would need that much power for, weapons, movement and hopefully energy shields if she was up to speed with science fiction. More or less 33% chance of that ship not plowing through them with weapons or FTL and she was not stupid enough to gamble on those odds.

"Fleet break formation and fall back. Ready evasive maneuvers." the missiles were close to hitting the ship now. The long trip to their target would soon force them to show their hand. Hundreds of kilometers more and her worries for this campaign will vanish in nuclear fire. She was counting the seconds now.

It takes the human mind milliseconds to perceive and react to any stimuli. With a distance of thousands of kilometers between the fleet and the Necron vessel, she was confident that it would allow her to react to any retaliatory strike and in a single blast of light she was proven wrong. The missiles were vaporized with nothing to show for it and everyone in the fleet was caught off guard before they could scramble to react to the pulse of light.

The bridge bursting into flames with consoles exploding from overloading. Most of the fleet disabled and the smaller vessels in the vanguard were completely shut down and drifting on limited life support systems.

"Damage report and switch to backup systems!" she tossed aside her headpiece as it was fried like everything else. They were literally given a taste of their own medicine by getting shocked back to the stone age. Her subordinates were ferrying messages through the halls and fighting fires, she would thank her lucky stars if the ship was ready and running again in minutes. Simply because she knew that no enemy would pass this golden opportunity to introduce them to the void.

Backup generators were running with enough to power life support and the bridge but not enough for the crucial systems of the ship. Close range comms returned with a crowd of chattering voices as rescue shuttles were coordinating rescue efforts. The sensors came after and the first thing that they see is the giant ship moving towards them. The bridge stared into the void as if their naked eye could see the vessel. to finish the job with another blast at close range?

"How close is it?" she demanded. Without complex equipment to pinpoint the distance, they were left to make the calculations themselves and it was taking too long. "Give me an update every minute on repairs." her patience was running thin for the many problems she was facing.

"It's only a few hundred kilos and closing." the man finally replied.

"What the fuck have you been doing!" a vein was about to pop from her growing blood pressure. The idiot should have updated her sooner and at a few hundred kilometers away. It was dangerously close enough to threaten the remainder of the fleet. "Engines status report! And admiral to fleet. Fall back and disperse! Abandon all rescue efforts."

The necron ship loomed close with its imposing figure. To add insult to injury, the ship simply rammed a frigate and two rescue shuttles to oblivion before getting behind the fleet to make a FTL jump. They were truly beneath its notice and they were punished for their hubris.

O0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0

The Imperishable

Work was now piling onto him with Szarekh personally requesting details on how the humans managed to cut themselves off from the realm of souls. Thankfully there were other Crypteks who shared his burden and he was free to move around.

Deshet stood next to Ratekh slumbering in his sarcophagus. The repairs to his body was taking time and made him curious enough to have a peek. It was not every millenia that the executioner was injured to such an extent. Looking at the small scarabs feeding precious metals to his Necrodermis was enough to tell him that he suffered more damage than he let on during the ceremony.

"Deshet what brings you here? Surely there are better things to do than to gloat on my current state." sending him a glare.

"There is nothing wrong with acquaintances checking on each other. With so many countless years between us, surely even you can't deny that we are colleagues in the court of the king."

"Make your point now or leave." running out of patience.

"Our lord has made questionable decisions lately. Have you checked on our lord's health?" implying on the routine checkup of the King's Necrodermis. "The imperishable was capable of greater power outputs that would have turned that fleet to dust. Not to mention that we could have saved time if we simply jumped through them. Some of us are wondering why the High Triarch is not upholding our laws."

Deshet was not impressed with the way Szarekh handled the human's disrespect. Some members of the court even shared his views that the Silent King was too lenient and that he should have set a better precedent to destroy the little pests. It was no secret that there was a minor faction onboard that did not agree with the King and every inhabitant of the ship knew there was more than enough cause to annihilate the human fleet but Szarekh's mercy was becoming a cause for concern. Lesser offences have been met with greater punishments in the past with entire races wiped from existence with not even records of their passing. Only cold Necron eyes witnessed their doom and as long as they were not spoken of, they were forgotten.

"Now is not the time to question him. We should be focusing our energies on figuring why the Eldar are here in this galaxy and dealing with them."

"Then we will never have time for questions, we are always at war Judicator and if not for our traditions then there is no need for the Triarch."

"Watch your tone Cryptek." climbing out of his sarcophagus. The nanoscarabs were still clinging onto him as he broke free to wield his scythe.

"Or what? Will I now be judged for my disrespect? Other dynasties may fear you but you would be a fool to think the same of me." staring down the Judicator

There are very few beings in the universe capable of besting the Judicator in melee. Deshet could almost see his mind struggle to process the many outcomes if he decides to swing his weapon. Even he understood the consequences if he went through with it and it didn't help that Szarekh has been indulging with his latest encounters.

The probability of the coming conflict was 81.74% stemming from so many factors. Crypteks are rare in any dynasty but they're not irreplaceable and he could see the tightening grip of the Judicator. He was ready to land the first blow and it was all already planned in the Cryptek's mind, a jet of plasma to his face followed by sacrificing one of his legs to his opponent before ending it with a thrust from his Eldritch lance. Out of nowhere, the Judicator stopped him before he could showcase his martial prowess.

"His majesty requests for more detailed information from our prisoners and that you prepare the necessary arrangements for the Turians."

"I do not serve these primitives. I-." his mind instantly regretted his quick response.

"You are a servant of the Silent King and his word is law. Disobey and I will judge you for **this** disrespect. And before you go Cryptek, your hubris sickens me and the fact that you even planned to engage me in combat is an insult. The time it would have taken you to fire off any of your trinkets would have resulted in your defeat in any scenario. Give thanks that Lord Szarekh is in need of your services." not betraying any hint of satisfaction before walking back into the embrace of his chambers.

The past few hours has given him enough rage to fuel the next millennia and this was preposterous because for one he KNOWS that he was not some common Cryptek serving a lowborn dynasty. He was one of the few Crypteks along with Illuminor Szeras who pioneered the biotransference of his people and now he is reduced to serving the pets on their ship. He even presented the option to just lock them in stasis until they reached their destination but Szarekh instantly denied his request.

Being reduced to serve some grounded avian was extremely demeaning to someone of his stature and he knows he deserves he will take his time to make his decision, that was a currency that he and his people had in spades. Time.

O0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0

Citadel

Councilor Sparatus' Office

"No, tell them that is all I can provide." as he ended the call.

The pressure coming from the Primarchs has increased with each passing hour. Despite the attempt to quarantine the news, the announcement for General Desolas was heard almost throughout Citadel space. All hell broke loose with the Primarchs generously handing out threats and advice to his terminal on how to deal with the matter. Another blinking reminder came from his assistant and he was about to explode into a rage.

"What now!" as he tapped the button.

"Councilor, Councilor Valern is here to see you."

"Send him in." tapping in reply before seeing Valern smoothly comfortably coming into his office to have a seat.

"Greetings councilor, I understand that you are now under a lot of pressure. But we have yet to receive Turian ships. We have 50 hours before the deadline arrives. Even you know that we must ensure the security of the Citadel."

Spirits grant me peace, first the Primarchs and now Valern was lecturing him. Life was simple before Desolas thought that violence was a viable first contact package. His growing frustration was beginning to sway his opinion to simply hand over the general immediately. If not for the Hierarchy breathing down his neck. But first things first is to deal with his colleague.

"Are you saying I'm stupid? You of all people should know that there is an ongoing debate among the Primarchs and I am doing all I can to expedite matters." Valern stared at him before he realized his poor choice of words.

"Forgive me. I did not intend to insult you." it was hard to discern sincerity from a Salarian but that did not matter at the moment.

"None taken. But this situation is ridiculous, we're negotiating with sentient machines. Next we'll welcome the Geth as an associate race."

"Yes, the coming days will see possible changes in our views towards artificial intelligence. I can imagine the Quarians screaming hypocrisy if this goes on."

"There is no way that Tevos will go through with this then. Did she share anything on how she's going to handle this? Surely she can see the hypocrisy of dealing with the Necrons."

"I dare not presume to know an Asari mind. Even you know that their age makes them unfathomable to the rest of us. But their diplomatic skills will definitely be put to the test."

"Then we will need to pressure her on her plans of action in the coming days. Anything else you can share?"

"Yes, the device we placed near Relay 314 has detected energy discharge, my teams predicts there was a conflict between the Necrons and humans."

"You didn't scuttle that thing? What's stopping them from breaching the Citadel again? Are you insa-"

"Be at ease Sparatus, I have teams ready to contain and sever the connection at the slightest sign of intrusion and it was a calculated risk seeing that we are still nowhere near to developing a countermeasure against Necron electronic warfare. So it was well worth the risk to monitor them from afar to gain as much information as we can."

"Is Tevos informed of this latest development?"

"No, You and I both know that she'll tell me to cease operations and not to antagonize the Necrons. I tell you this because unlike Tevos, I deal with the simple assumption that war is likely to occur and that you and I should work to prepare for it."

But even Sparatus could see that Valern was uncomfortable with conflict with the Necrons. A race that was leagues ahead than even the Geth in cyber warfare and technology. The lack of information was definitely unnerving the Salarian.

"What preparations have you made?" his curiosity getting the better of him.

"I have a simple plan in mind but I will have to think hard on it before I say anything. Be at ease that you will have my support if war is inevitable." before nodding to leave the room.

A wash of relief swept over him from Valern's last words. There were plans on his side as well and even though he was loyal to the council. His loyalty to his people was just a little bit greater and knowing that if they give up General Desolas to the Necrons, the Primarchs will more than likely find another Councilor to better represent the Hierarchy. Opening a separate side terminal, not a single speck of guilt was present in him as he sent his message.

*Coordinates are accurate. For the cause.*

o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o0o0

Amilya Exodus Ship

Royal Hall

Raucous laughter could be heard within. The decorations of the room were extravagant and vibrant enough to leave anyone else in awe. The people within were equally dressed to match the room. There were more higher nobles now present in the court. Answering the call of High King Dalthanil and they were the first to receive their new bodies.

"The script is writing itself now!" as he laughed his lungs out.

Royal guard Elruin in his cloaked vessel was relaying everything back and giving everyone in the hall a good time. Intercepted messages revealed that Councilor Sparatus was intercepting the shipment of General Desolas and Valern was entertaining ideas of holding the Necrontyr lord hostage. Honestly, he was grateful for the entertainment and saving him the time and effort of planning out this play.

"Leave a squad and rendezvous with us on the way. The locals are doing everything for us." pleased with the results.

Now to hang a delicious treat for his most loyal followers. This was a surefire way to rally their subordinates and rouse even more awake from that dull circuit. It was getting lonely on the ship and what is a king without a population to rule over.

"Attention please. I would like to give the privileged few here the opportunity to accompany me on my trip to the Citadel." eliciting a cheer from the crowd.

"And I will generously provide refreshments and first class seats to a show that is about to happen and the opportunity to witness the death of a Necrontyr lord." ordering Elruin to monitor the fake mercenaries that was about to attack Desolas' transport.

Good they were thrilled and more were awakening from the circuit everyday. A pity that some have degraded to just simple thoughts now. But it reinforced his belief that he had to give his people a reason for living. The Necrontyr will be the best catalyst for his scheme, a relic from their distant past and galaxy. It was sure to arouse most of the ship back into activity, a piece of home had come to them. Perfect, right as his court seer walked up to him.

"My pupil has gone silent and we have yet to receive any news from Morduin. They may be onto us." seer lord Thilmar was spoiling his moment.

"A simple Noctilith device would be enough to block your sight dear friend and you worry too much. I trust Morduin will come back soon with information and they will arrive at the Citadel shortly." confidence was brimming off his fake smile.

"What makes you so sure that a Necron lord would even bother to present himself to these lesser races? Any Phaeron worth his tombship would never fall for such a simple assasination attempt."

"That is assuming that the Phaeron knows we're here! Have faith my friend and enjoy the festivities! When was the last time we had this many guests in our halls? Even your wife is here."

"The fact that they're here is suspicious Dalthanil. It could mean that our Gods lost the war and they're now hunting us down. We must practice caution, our people left that galaxy to avoid the war and now you're seeking it."

"IT IS PRECISELY THAT! My Father doomed us to exile and our people are willingly sleeping themselves to death! This ship is a TOMB! Do you see the irony here?! Now begone! I have a trip to plan." his smile peeled away in an ugly scowl.

Seeing his gifted court seer walk away gave him peace. But too much peace was the problem for his people. Civil wars were fun but the Amilya had suffered greatly over the years and it was not viable because the people who built the ship are mostly gone and repairs were both difficult and sometimes impossible. Even his invitation to the other large factions of the ship was beginning to bear fruit. King Nosfar of the lower decks and Blood queen Valkyr were interested but they were pretenders, each threatening other sections of the ship with life support systems or power system failures. He allowed autonomy because of the competition and now an opportunity to unite his people under his rule is here and he will not waste it.

* * *

Codex

(There will be copy pasta from the wiki to give readers not used to Warhammer a simple summary of the items and weapons)

Forgive me if you guys don't like it and I will remove it if you guys don't want this section in the future. Tell me in the reviews or I will continue to update this as I add in more stuff. Feel free to ask me questions in the review too because i think my lore on Warhammer is kinda ok.

Please take note that Yes i know i fucked up with Thermal weapons for the Mass effect factions especially since this is pre ME1 and also the fact that there are craftworld aspects may be confusing but i have explained that i don't have enough creative juices to make shit up. A fusion gun is still a fusion gun even if i changed the name. It would suck if i changed the power balance to give every damn Eldar dark matter weapons and hand held bright lances. So my excuse is civil war degrading their tech to what it is now. Not the best of explanations at the moment but i will do more world building as the chapters go on.

**Eldar**

**Necrons**

Plasmancers

Masters of raw energy and can shoot devastating blasts of furious energy and pulses of light that illuminate the entire battlefield from their Eldritch Lances in battle. Their gaze of flickering witch-fire falters the onset of even the bravest attacker.

* * *

RANT TIME

Terror Dark Calws Army

Yes my Eldar are not exactly the controlled versions. Pre fall eldar are more similar to Dark Eldar than the craftworld Eldar.

VampireDraken

Yes others have pointed it out and i am sorry for my fuck up. But its there now and i'm going to stick with it. Thank you for your honest thoughts and i will work to improve my lore writing for ME. Because i will tell the truth that i only played ME2 and most of it comes from Wikis and youtube. Apologies again T_T

Everyone else

Thank you and i am sorry if my english gave you cancer hahaha. I know how it feels to read really broken english. But hopefully its not so painful that it ruins the whole thing.

As usual i welcome constructive criticism and i know i ain't some super good writer and my grammar isn't the best either. You can point them out so i can learn better and help improve this fic in da future. Any lore breaking shit can also be pointed out because i love the lore and i don't wanna be wrong but remember that some of shit may be self created by me coz this is a FANFIC.

Lastly, stay safe everyone and Happy new Year.


End file.
